Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/482

 ANONYMOUS

'His hounds they lie down at his feet,

So well they can their master keep;

'His hawks they flie so eagerly,

There's no fowl dare come him nigh.'

Down there comes a fallow doe

As great with young as she might goe.

She lift up his bloudy head

And kist his wounds that were so red.

She gat him up upon her back

And carried him to earthen lake.

She buried him before the prime,

She was dead herself ere evensong time.

God send every gentleman

Such hounds, such hawks, and such a leman.

��590 The Twa Corbies

(SCOTTISH VERSION) I was walking all alane I heard twa corbies making a mane: The tane unto the tither did say, 'Whar sail we gang and dine the day ? ' 4 In bchint yon auld fail dyke I wot there lies a new-slain knight; And naebody kens that he lies there But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair. 'His hound is to the hunting ganc, His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame, His lady's ta'en anithcr mate, So we may mak our dinner sweet. 390 corbies] ravens. fail] turf.

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