Page:Folk-ballads of southern Europe.djvu/283

Rh Dearest little lamb of mine?"

"Shepherd, O my shepherd dear!

Lead the sheep afar from here;

Yonder in the great, dark wood,

For us there is pasture good;

Shade for us and thee is there;

Master, listen to my prayer.

Of thy dogs, the bravest, best,

Take with thee, and trustiest;

For the man of Hungary,

And the Vrancian, cruelly

At nightfall will murder thee."

"Curly lambkin, if indeed

Thou canst in the future read;

If Fate wills I die to-day,

In this meadow, thou must say

Bold to him of Hungary,

Boldly to the mountaineer,

That they lay my body here,

Close beside my herd-hut small,

So I may stay near you all;

Stay among my sheep and still

Lie and listen underground

To my dogs upon the hill.

See thou, when my grave is made,

Over me my three flutes laid;

One all wrought of beechen wood

Sings how love is true and good;

One that's carved of ivory

Tells the heart's pain, tenderly;

One of elder-tree that loud

Sounds of joy and courage proud.