Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
He. | BE it right or wrong, these men among | |
On women do complain; | |
Affirming this, how that it is | |
A labour spent in vain | |
To love them wele; for never a dele | 5 |
They love a man again: | |
For let a man do what he can | |
Their favour to attain, | |
Yet if a new to them pursue, | |
Their first true lover than | 10 |
Laboureth for naught; for from her thought | |
He is a banished man. | |
|
She. | I say not nay, but that all day | |
It is both written and said | |
That woman’s faith is, as who saith, | 15 |
All utterly decayd: | |
But nevertheless, right good witnèss | |
In this case might be laid | |
That they love true and continue: | |
Record the Nut-brown Maid, | 20 |
Which, when her love came her to prove, | |
To her to make his moan, | |
Would not depart; for in her heart | |
She loved but him alone. | |
|
He. | Then between us let us discuss | 25 |
What was all the manere | |
Between them two: we will also | |
Tell all the pain in fere | |
That she was in. Now I begin, | |
So that ye me answere: | 30 |
Wherefore all ye that present be, | |
I pray you, give an ear. | |
I am the Knight. I come by night, | |
As secret as I can, | |
Saying, Alas! thus standeth the case, | 35 |
I am a banished man. | |
|
She. | And I your will for to fulfil | |
In this will not refuse; | |
Trusting to show, in wordes few, | |
That men have an ill use— | 40 |
To their own shame—women to blame, | |
And causeless them accuse. | |
Therefore to you I answer now, | |
All women to excuse— | |
Mine own heart dear, with you what cheer? | 45 |
I pray you, tell anone; | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | It standeth so: a deed is do | |
Whereof great harm shall grow: | 50 |
My destiny is for to die | |
A shameful death, I trow; | |
Or else to flee. The t’ one must be. | |
None other way I know | |
But to withdraw as an outlàw, | 55 |
And take me to my bow. | |
Wherefore adieu, mine own heart true! | |
None other rede I can: | |
For I must to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | 60 |
|
She. | O Lord, what is this worldis bliss, | |
That changeth as the moon! | |
My summer’s day in lusty May | |
Is darked before the noon. | |
I hear you say, farewell: Nay, nay, | 65 |
We dèpart not so soon. | |
Why say ye so? whither will ye go? | |
Alas! what have ye done? | |
All my welfàre to sorrow and care | |
Should change, if ye were gone: | 70 |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | I can believe it shall you grieve, | |
And somewhat you distrain; | |
But afterward, your paines hard | 75 |
Within a day or twain | |
Shall soon aslake; and ye shall take | |
Comfort to you again. | |
Why should ye ought? for, to make thought, | |
Your labour were in vain. | 80 |
And thus I do; and pray you to, | |
As hartely as I can: | |
For I must to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | Now, sith that ye have showed to me | 85 |
The secret of your mind, | |
I shall be plain to you again, | |
Like as ye shall me find. | |
Sith it is so that ye will go, | |
I will not live behind. | 90 |
Shall never be said the Nut-brown Maid | |
Was to her love unkind. | |
Make you ready, for so am I, | |
Although it were anone: | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | 95 |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | Yet I you rede to take good heed | |
What men will think and say: | |
Of young, of old, it shall be told | |
That ye be gone away | 100 |
Your wanton will for to fulfil, | |
In green-wood you to play; | |
And that ye might for your delight | |
No longer make delay | |
Rather than ye should thus for me | 105 |
Be called an ill womàn | |
Yet would I to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | Though it be sung of old and young | |
That I should be to blame, | 110 |
Theirs be the charge that speak so large | |
In hurting of my name: | |
For I will prove that faithful love | |
It is devoid of shame; | |
In your distress and heaviness | 115 |
To part with you the same: | |
And sure all tho that do not so | |
True lovers are they none: | |
For in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | 120 |
|
He. | I counsel you, Remember how | |
It is no maiden’s law | |
Nothing to doubt, but to run out | |
To wood with an outlàw. | |
For ye must there in your hand bear | 125 |
A bow ready to draw; | |
And as a thief thus must you live | |
Ever in dread and awe; | |
Whereby to you great harm might grow: | |
Yet had I liever than | 130 |
That I had to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | I think not nay but as ye say; | |
It is no maiden’s lore; | |
But love may make me for your sake, | 135 |
As I have said before, | |
To come on foot, to hunt and shoot, | |
To get us meat and store; | |
For so that I your company | |
May have, I ask no more. | 140 |
From which to part it maketh my heart | |
As cold as any stone; | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | For an outlàw this is the law, | 145 |
That men him take and bind: | |
Without pitie, hangèd to be, | |
And waver with the wind. | |
If I had need (as God forbede!) | |
What socours could ye find? | 150 |
Forsooth I trow, you and your bow | |
For fear would draw behind. | |
And no mervail; for little avail | |
Were in your counsel than: | |
Wherefore I’ll to the green-wood go, | 155 |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | Right well know ye that women be | |
But feeble for to fight; | |
No womanhede it is, indeed, | |
To be bold as a knight: | 160 |
Yet in such fear if that ye were | |
With enemies day and night, | |
I would withstand, with bow in hand, | |
To grieve them as I might, | |
And you to save; as women have | 165 |
From death men many one: | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | Yet take good hede; for ever I drede | |
That ye could not sustain | 170 |
The thorny ways, the deep vallèys, | |
The snow, the frost, the rain, | |
The cold, the heat; for dry or wete, | |
We must lodge on the plain; | |
And, us above, no other roof | 175 |
But a brake bush or twain: | |
Which soon should grieve you, I believe; | |
And ye would gladly than | |
That I had to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | 180 |
|
She. | Sith I have here been partynere | |
With you of joy and bliss, | |
I must alsò part of your woe | |
Endure, as reason is: | |
Yet I am sure of one pleasùre, | 185 |
And shortly it is this— | |
That where ye be, me seemeth, pardé, | |
I could not fare amiss. | |
Without more speech I you beseech | |
That we were shortly gone; | 190 |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | If ye go thyder, ye must consider, | |
When ye have lust to dine, | |
There shall no meat be for to gete, | 195 |
Nether bere, ale, ne wine, | |
Ne shetès clean, to lie between, | |
Made of thread and twine; | |
None other house, but leaves and boughs, | |
To cover your head and mine. | 200 |
Lo, mine heart sweet, this ill diète | |
Should make you pale and wan: | |
Wherefore I’ll to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | Among the wild deer such an archère, | 205 |
As men say that ye be, | |
Ne may not fail of good vitayle | |
Where is so great plentè: | |
And water clear of the rivere | |
Shall be full sweet to me; | 210 |
With which in hele I shall right wele | |
Endure, as ye shall see; | |
And, or we go, a bed or two | |
I can provide anone; | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | 215 |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | Lo yet, before, ye must do more, | |
If ye will go with me: | |
As, cut your hair up by your ear, | |
Your kirtle by the knee; | 220 |
With bow in hand for to withstand | |
Your enemies, if need be: | |
And this same night, before daylight, | |
To woodward will I flee. | |
If that ye will all this fulfil, | 225 |
Do it shortly as ye can: | |
Else will I to the green-wood go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | I shall as now do more for you | |
Than ‘longeth to womanhede; | 230 |
To short my hair, a bow to bear, | |
To shoot in time of need. | |
O my sweet mother! before all other | |
For you I have most drede! | |
But now, adieu! I must ensue | 235 |
Where fortune doth me lead. | |
All this make ye: Now let us flee; | |
The day cometh fast upon: | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | 240 |
|
He. | Nay, nay, not so; ye shall not go, | |
And I shall tell you why— | |
Your appetite is to be light | |
Of love, I well espy: | |
For, right as ye have said to me, | 245 |
In likewise hardily | |
Ye would answere whosoever it were, | |
In way of company: | |
It is said of old, Soon hot, soon cold; | |
And so is a womàn: | 250 |
Wherefore I to the wood will go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | If ye take heed, it is no need | |
Such words to say to me; | |
For oft ye prayed, and long assayed, | 255 |
Or I loved you, pardè: | |
And though that I of ancestry | |
A baron’s daughter be, | |
Yet have you proved how I you loved, | |
A squire of low degree; | 260 |
And ever shall, whatso befall | |
To die therefore anone; | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | A baron’s child to be beguiled, | 265 |
It were a cursèd deed! | |
To be felàw with an outlaw— | |
Almighty God forbede! | |
Yet better were the poor squyere | |
Alone to forest yede | 270 |
Than ye shall say another day | |
That by my cursèd rede | |
Ye were betrayed. Wherefore, good maid, | |
The best rede that I can, | |
Is, that I to the green-wood go, | 275 |
Alone, a banished man. | |
|
She. | Whatever befall, I never shall | |
Of this thing be upbraid: | |
But if ye go, and leave me so, | |
Then have ye me betrayed. | 280 |
Remember you wele, how that ye dele; | |
For if ye, as ye said, | |
Be so unkind to leave behind | |
Your love, the Nut-brown Maid, | |
Trust me truly that I shall die | 285 |
Soon after ye be gone: | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | If that ye went, ye should repent; | |
For in the forest now | 290 |
I have purveyed me of a maid | |
Whom I love more than you: | |
Another more fair than ever ye were | |
I dare it well avow; | |
And of you both each should be wroth | 295 |
With other, as I trow: | |
It were mine ease to live in peace; | |
So will I, if I can: | |
Wherefore I to the wood will go, | |
Alone, a banished man. | 300 |
|
She. | Though in the wood I understood | |
Ye had a paramour, | |
All this may nought remove my thought, | |
But that I will be your’: | |
And she shall find me soft and kind | 305 |
And courteis every hour; | |
Glad to fulfil all that she will | |
Command me, to my power: | |
For had ye, lo, an hundred mo, | |
Yet would I be that one: | 310 |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | Mine own dear love, I see the prove | |
That ye be kind and true; | |
Of maid, of wife, in all my life, | 315 |
The best that ever I knew. | |
Be merry and glad; be no more sad; | |
The case is changèd new; | |
For it were ruth that for your truth | |
Ye should have cause to rue. | 320 |
Be not dismayed, whatsoever I said | |
To you when I began: | |
I will not to the green-wood go; | |
I am no banished man. | |
|
She. | These tidings be more glad to me | 325 |
Than to be made a queen, | |
If I were sure they should endure; | |
But it is often seen | |
When men will break promise they speak | |
The wordis on the splene. | 330 |
Ye shape some wile me to beguile, | |
And steal from me, I ween: | |
Then were the case worse than it was, | |
And I more wo-begone: | |
For, in my mind, of all mankind | 335 |
I love but you alone. | |
|
He. | Ye shall not nede further to drede: | |
I will not disparàge | |
You (God defend), sith you descend | |
Of so great a linàge. | 340 |
Now understand: to Westmoreland, | |
Which is my heritage, | |
I will you bring; and with a ring, | |
By way of marriàge | |
I will you take, and lady make, | 345 |
As shortly as I can: | |
Thus have you won an Earles son, | |
And not a banished man. | |
|
| Here may ye see that women be | |
In love meek, kind, and stable; | 350 |
Let never man reprove them than, | |
Or call them variable; | |
But rather pray God that we may | |
To them be comfortable; | |
Which sometime proveth such as He loveth, | 355 |
If they be charitable. | |
For sith men would that women should | |
Be meek to them each one; | |
Much more ought they to God obey, | |
And serve but Him alone. | 360 |