Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas J. Wise pamphlet by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, UK, for kindly supplying the images from which this transcription was made.
THE VERNER RAVEN
the count of vendel’s
daughter
and other ballads
by
GEORGE BORROW
London:
printed for private circulation
1913
Copyright in the United States of America
by Houghton Mifflin & Co. for Clement Shorter.
THE VERNER RAVEN
The Raven he flies in the evening tide,
He in day dares not intrude;
Whoever is born to have evil luck
In vain may seek for good.
Lustily flies the Verner Raven,
High o’er the wall he’s flown,
For he was aware that Irmindlin fair
Sate in her bower alone.
He southward flew, and he northward flew,
He flew high up in the cloud;
And he beheld May Irmindlin
Who sorrowing sate and sew’d.
“Now hear me, little Irmindlin,
Why weep in this piteous way?
For father or mother, or is it for brother,
That adown thy cheek tears stray?”