"O don't I give you meat," he says,
"And don't I pay you fee?
How dare you stop my errand?" he says;
"My orders you must obey."
O when he came to Lord Barnard's castel,25
He tinkled at the ring;
Who was as ready as [Lord Barnard] himself
To let this little boy in?
"Here is a glove, a glove," he says,
"Lined with the silver gris;30
You are bidden to come to the merry green wood,
To speak to Child Nory.
"Here is a ring, a ring," he says,
"It's all gold but the stane:
You are bidden to come to the merry green wood,35
And ask the leave o' nane."
Lord Barnard he was standing by,
And an angry man was he:
"O little did I think there was a lord in this world
My lady loved but me!"40
O he dressed himself in the Holland smocks,
And garments that was gay;
And he is away to the merry green wood,
To speak to Child Nory.
Child Noryce sits on yonder tree,45
He whistles and he sings:
"O wae be to me," says Child Noryce,
"Yonder my mother comes!"
Child Noryce he came off the tree,
His mother to take off the horse:50
"Och alace, alace," says Child Noryce,
"My mother was ne'er so gross."