Page:Poems and ballads (IA poemsballads00swinrich).pdf/344

 Have they boiled my maid in a brass pan, And built a gallows to hang my man?"

The boards said to him: "This is a lewd thing that ye deem.

Your wife has gotten a golden bed, All the sheets are sewn with red.

Your son has gotten a coat of silk, The sleeves are soft as curded milk.

Your maid has gotten a kirtle new, All the skirt has braids of blue.

Your man has gotten both ring and glove, Wrought well for eyes to love."

The dead man answered thus: "What good gift shall God give us?"

The boards answered him anon: "Flesh to feed hell's worm upon."