Contents
-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Anonymous. 17th Cent.
379. The Three Ravens
THERE were three ravens sat on a tree, | |
They were as black as they might be. | |
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The one of them said to his make, | |
‘Where shall we our breakfast take?’ | |
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‘Down in yonder greene field | 5 |
There lies a knight slain under his shield; | |
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‘His hounds they lie down at his feet, | |
So well they can their master keep; | |
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‘His hawks they flie so eagerly, | |
There ‘s no fowl dare come him nigh.’ | 10 |
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Down there comes a fallow doe | |
As great with young as she might goe. | |
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She lift up his bloudy head | |
And kist his wounds that were so red. | |
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She gat him up upon her back | 15 |
And carried him to earthen lake. | |
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She buried him before the prime, | |
She was dead herself ere evensong time. | |
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God send every gentleman | |
Such hounds, such hawks, and such a leman. | 20 |