Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/483

Rh

"Now, riddle my riddle, dear Mother, he cried,

"And riddle it all into one: For whether to marry the Fair Eleanor, Or to bring you the Brown Girl home?"

"The Brown Girl, she hath both houses and lands, Fair Eleanor, she hath none: Therefore I charge you, upon my blessing, To bring me the Brown Girl home!" He clothed himself in gallant attire, His merrymen all in green, And every borough that he rode through, They took him to be some king. And when he reached Fair Eleanor s bower, He knocked thereat, therein. And who so ready as Fair Eleanor To let Lord Thomas in?

"What news? What news, Lord Thomas?" she cried,

"What news dost thou bring unto me?"

"I come to bid thee to my wedding, And that is sad news for thee!"

"Now Heaven forbid, Lord Thomas," she cried,

"That any such thing should be done! I thought to have been, myself, thy bride, And thou to have been the bridegroom!"

"Now, riddle my riddle, dear Mother," she cried,

"And riddle it all into one: For whether to go to Lord Thomas s wedding, Or whether I tarry at home?"