{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch102.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch102.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch102.htm","text":"102A.1 O WILLIERR\u2019rrS large o limb and lith,\nAnd come o high degree,\nAnd he is gane to Earl Richard,\nTo serve for meat and fee.\n102A.2 Earl Richard had but ae daughter,\nFair as a lily-flower,\nAnd they made up their love-contract\nLike proper paramour.\n102A.3 It fell upon a simmer\u2019s nicht,\nWhan the leaves were fair and green,\nThat Willie met his gay ladie\nIntil the wood alane.\n102A.4 \u2018O narrow is my gown, Willie,\nThat wont to be sae wide;\nAnd gane is a\u2019 my fair colour,\nThat wont to be my pride.\n102A.5 \u2018But gin my father should get word\nWhat\u2019s past between us twa,\nBefore that he should eat or drink,\nHe\u2019d hang you oer that wa.\n102A.6 \u2018But ye\u2019ll come to my bower, Willie,\nJust as the sun gaes down,\nAnd kep me in your arms twa,\nAnd latna me fa down.\u2019\n102A.7 O whan the sun was now gane down,\nHe\u2019s doen him till her bower,\nAnd there, by the lee licht o the moon,\nHer window she lookit oer.\n102A.8 Intill a robe o red scarlet\nShe lap, fearless o harm;\nAnd Willie was large o lith and limb,\nAnd keepit her in his arm.\n102A.9 And they\u2019ve gane to the gude green wood,\nAnd, ere the night was deen,\nShe\u2019s born to him a bonny young son,\nAmang the leaves sae green.\n102A.10 Whan night was gane, and day was come,\nAnd the sun began to peep,\nUp and raise the Earl Richard\nOut o his drowsy sleep.\n102A.11 He\u2019s ca\u2019d upon his merry young men,\nBy ane, by twa, and by three:\n\u2018O what\u2019s come o my daughter dear,\nThat she\u2019s nae come to me?\n102A.12 \u2018I dreamt a dreary dream last night,\nGod grant it come to gude!\nI dreamt I saw my daughter dear\nDrown in the saut sea flood.\n102A.13 \u2018But gin my daughter be dead or sick,\nOr yet be stown awa,\nI mak a vow, and I\u2019ll keep it true,\nI\u2019ll hang ye ane and a\u2019!\u2019\n102A.14 They sought her back, they sought her fore,\nThey sought her up and down;\nThey got her in the gude green wood,\nNursing her bonny young son.\n102A.15 He took the bonny boy in his arms,\nAnd kist him tenderlie;\nSays, Though I would your father hang,\nYour mother\u2019s dear to me.\n102A.16 He kist him oer and oer again:\n\u2018My grandson I thee claim,\nAnd Robin Hood in gude green wood,\nAnd that shall be your name.\u2019\n102A.17 And mony ane sings o grass, o grass,\nAnd mony ane sings o corn,\nAnd mony ane sings o Robin Hood\nKens little whare he was born.\n102A.18 It wasna in the ha, the ha,\nNor in the painted bower,\nBut it was in the gude green wood,\nAmang the lily-flower.\n102B: Willie and Earl Richard\u2019s Daughter\n102B.1 MONY ane talks o the grass, the grass,\nAnd mony ane o the corn,\nAnd mony ane talks o gude Robin Hood\nKens little whar he was born.\n102B.2 He was gotten in a earl\u2019s ha,\nAnd in a lady\u2019s bower,\nAnd born into gude greenwood,\nThro mony cauld winter\u2019s shower.\n102B.3 His father was the earl\u2019s own steward,\nSprung frae sma pedigree;\nHis mother, Earl Huntingdon\u2019s ae daughter,\nFor he had nane else but she.\n102B.4 When nine months were near an end,\nAnd eight months they were gone,\nThe lady\u2019s cheeks wi tears were wet,\nAnd thus she made her moan:\n102B.5 \u2018What shall I say, my love Archibald,\nThis day for you and me?\nI will be laid in cauld irons,\nAnd ye\u2019ll be hanged on tree.\u2019\n102B.6 \u2018What aileth my love Clementina?\nWhat gars you mourn sae sair?\u2019\n\u2018You know,\u2019 said she, \u2018I\u2019m with child to thee,\nThese eight lang months and mair.\u2019\n102B.7 \u2018Will ye gae to my mother\u2019s bower,\nStands on yon stately green?\nOr will ye gae to the gude greenwood,\nWhere ye will not be seen?\u2019\n102B.8 \u2018I winna gang to your mother\u2019s bower,\nStands on yon stately green;\nBut I will on to gude greenwood,\nFor I will not be seen.\u2019\n102B.9 He\u2019s girt his sword down by his side,\nTook his lady by the hand,\nAnd they are on thro gude greenwood,\nAs fast as they could gang.\n102B.10 With slowly steps these couple walkd,\nAbout miles scarcely three.\nWhen this lady, being sair wearied out,\nLay down beneath a tree.\n102B.11 \u2018O for a few of yon junipers,\nTo cheer my heart again,\nAnd likewise for a gude midwife,\nTo ease me of my pain!\u2019\n102B.12 \u2018I\u2019ll bring to you yon junipers,\nTo cheer your heart again,\nAnd I\u2019ll be to you a gude midwife,\nTo ease you of your pain.\u2019\n102B.13 \u2018Had far awa frae me, Archibald,\nFor this will never dee;\nThat\u2019s nae the fashion o our land,\nAnd it\u2019s nae be used by me.\n102B.14 \u2018Ye\u2019ll take your small-sword by your side,\nYour buckler and your bow,\nAnd ye\u2019ll gae down thro gude greenwood,\nAnd hunt the deer and roe.\n102B.15 \u2018You will stay in gude greenwood,\nAnd with the chase go on,\nUntil yon white hind pass you by,\nThen straight to me ye\u2019ll come.\u2019\n102B.16 He\u2019s girt his sword then by his side,\nHis buckler and his bow,\nAnd he is on thro gude greenwood,\nTo hunt the deer and roe.\n102B.17 And in the greenwood he did stay,\nAnd with the chase gaed on,\nUntil the white hind passd him by,\nThen to his love he came.\n102B.18 He girt his sword then by his side,\nFast thro greenwood went he,\nAnd there he found his love lie dead,\nBeneath the green oak tree.\n102B.19 The sweet young babe that she had born\nRight lively seemed to be;\n\u2018Ohon, alas!\u2019 said young Archibald,\n\u2018A mournful scene to me!\n102B.20 \u2018Altho my sweet babe is alive,\nThis does increase my woe;\nHow to nourish a motherless babe\nIs mair than I do know.\u2019\n102B.21 He looked east, he looked west,\nTo see what he could see,\nThen spied the Earl o Huntingdon,\nAnd mony a man him wi.\n102B.22 Then Archibald fled from the earl\u2019s face,\nAmong the leaves sae green,\nThat he might hear what might be said,\nAnd see, and nae be seen.\n102B.23 The earl straight thro the greenwood came,\nUnto the green oak tree,\nAnd there he saw his daughter dead,\nHer living child her wi.\n102B.24 Then he\u2019s taen up the little boy,\nRowed him in his gown-sleeve;\nSaid, Tho your father\u2019s to my loss,\nYour mother\u2019s to me leave.\n102B.25 And if ye live until I die,\nMy bowers and lands ye\u2019se heir;\nYou are my only daughter\u2019s child;\nBut her I never had mair.\n102B.26 Ye\u2019se hae all kinds of nourishment,\nAnd likewise nurses three;\nIf I knew where the fause knave were,\nHigh hanged should he be.\n102B.27 His daughter he buried in gude church-yard,\nAll in a mournful mood,\nAnd brought the boy to church that day,\nAnd christend him Robin Hood.\n102B.28 This boy was bred in the earl\u2019s ha\nTill he became a man,\nBut loved to hunt in gude greenwood,\nTo raise his noble fame.\n102C: Willie and Earl Richard\u2019s Daughter\n102C.1 MONY ane speaks o grass, o grass,\nAnd mony mare o corn,\nAnd mony ane sings o Robin Heed\nKens little whare he was born.\n102C.2 He was born in good green wood,\nAt the fut o yon olive tree;\nHis father was a knight\u2019s ae son,\nAnd his mother a lady free.","title":"The Child Ballads: 102. Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter","type":"page"}