If any man refuse her, the axe shall have his head."
"The honor of a maid is not paid or bought with land,
Wed her, well-beloved, with your cold and dying hand,
That she may be your widow, and bear an honored name,
And though she weeps with sorrow it will not be for shame."
The ballad of Dom Aleixio, of which there are several versions, has a lightness of touch in the description of the masquerading maid, which is not often found in the popular ballads, although the conclusion is sufficiently tragic.
DOM ALEIXIO.
We are three sisters, young and gay,