Page 166 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

Through straining reeds beside the river.

‘I came, a bird on feathered wing,
From distant Faeryland
Where murmuring waters softly sing
Upon the golden strand,
Where sweet trees are forever green;
And there my mother is the queen.’

…

‘No more May Ellen leaves her bower
To grace the blossoms fair;
But in the hushed and midnight hour
They hear her talking there,
Or, when the moon is shining white,
They hear her singing through the night.

‘Oh, don thy silks and jewels fine,’
May Ellen’s mother said,
‘For hither comes the Lord of Lyne
And thou this lord must wed.’
May Ellen said, ‘It may not be.
He ne’er shall find his wife in me.’

‘Up spoke her brother, dark and grim:
‘Now by the bright blue sky,
E’er yet a day hath gone for him
Thy wicked bird shall die!

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