Page 381 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

And the shrill wind sighs a straining.’

‘What sailed in the boat, my daughter?
What sailed in the boat this day,
Daughter, my daughter?’
‘Oh, there was one all clad in white,
And about his face hung a pallid light,
And his eyes gleamed sharp like the stars at night,
And the shrill wind sighed a straining.’

‘And what said he, my daughter?
What said he to thee this day,
Daughter, my daughter?’
‘Oh, said he nought, but did he this:
Thrice on my lips did he press a kiss,
And my heartstrings shrunk with an awful bliss,
And the shrill wind sighed a straining,.’

‘Why growest thou so cold, my daughter?
Why growest thou so cold and white,
Daughter, my daughter?’
Oh, never a word the daughter said,
But she sat all straight with a drooping head,
For her heart was stilled and her face was dead:
And the shrill wind sighed a straining.’

All listened in silence; and when Allan a Dale had done
King Richard heaved a sigh. ‘By the breath of my body, Al-
lan,’ quoth he, ‘thou hast such a wondrous sweet voice that

0 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood