Page 164 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

songster that must be asked again and again, but said ‘yes’
or ‘no’ at the first bidding; so, taking up his harp, he ran
his fingers lightly over the sweetly sounding strings, and all
was hushed about the cloth. Then, backing his voice with
sweet music on his harp, he sang:

MAY ELLEN’S WEDDING

(Giving an account of how she was beloved by a fairy
prince, who took her to his own home.)

‘May Ellen sat beneath a thorn
And in a shower around
The blossoms fell at every breeze
Like snow upon the ground,
And in a lime tree near was heard
The sweet song of a strange, wild bird.
‘O sweet, sweet, sweet, O piercing sweet,
O lingering sweet the strain!
May Ellen’s heart within her breast
Stood still with blissful pain:
And so, with listening, upturned face,
She sat as dead in that fair place.

‘Come down from out the blossoms, bird!
Come down from out the tree,
And on my heart I’ll let thee lie,
And love thee tenderly!’

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