THE MAIDENS’ VOW.

‘A woman may better her word, I trow,

Now lithe and listen, my lords, to me;

And I’ll tell ye the tale of the “Maidens’ Vow,”

And the roses that bloom’d on the bonnie rose-tree.

‘The Queen of the cluster, beyond compare,

Aloft in the pride of her majesty hung,

Bright and beautiful, fresh and fair;

The bevy of blossoms around her clung.

‘So the winds came wooing from east and west,