20.
The firsten mary she sent out
Was Brown Robin by name;
Then out it spake the king himsel’,
‘This is a sturdy dame.’
21.
21.2 ‘gay’: the MS. gives gray. This is Child’s emendation, who points out that the sun was up, 8.2.
O she went out in a May morning,
In a May morning so gay,
But she never came back again,