E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Lady Isabella,
the beloved daughter of a noble lord, accompanied her father and mother on a chase one day, when her step-mother requested her to return and tell the master-cook to prepare “the milk-white doe for dinner.” Lady Isabella did as she was told, and the master-cook replied, “Thou art the doe that I must dress.” The scullion-boy exclaimed, “O save the lady’s life, and make thy pies of me;” but the master-cook heeded him not. When the lord returned he called for his daughter, the fair Isabelle, and the scullion-boy said, “If now you will your daughter see, my lord, cut up that pie.” When the fond father comprehended the awful tragedy, he adjudged the cruel step-dame to be burnt alive, and the master-cook “in boiling lead to stand;” but the scullion-boy he made his heir. (Percy: Reliques, etc., series iii., bk. 2.)
