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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  379. The Three Ravens

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. 
 
The one of them said to his make, 
‘Where shall we our breakfast take?’ 
 
‘Down in yonder greene field         5
There lies a knight slain under his shield; 
 
‘His hounds they lie down at his feet, 
So well they can their master keep; 
 
‘His hawks they flie so eagerly, 
There ‘s no fowl dare come him nigh.’  10
 
Down there comes a fallow doe 
As great with young as she might goe. 
 
She lift up his bloudy head 
And kist his wounds that were so red. 
 
She gat him up upon her back  15
And carried him to earthen lake. 
 
She buried him before the prime, 
She was dead herself ere evensong time. 
 
God send every gentleman 
Such hounds, such hawks, and such a leman.  20
 
GLOSS:  make] mate.