She took a ring from her finger,
And gave't the porter for his fee:
Says, "Tak you that, my good porter,
And bid the Queen speak to me."
And when she came before the Queen,115
There she fell low down on her knee:
Says, "There is a knight into your court,
This day has robbed me."
"O has he robbed you of your gold,
Or has he robbed you of your fee?"120
"He has not robbed me of my gold,
He has not robbed me of my fee;
He has robbed me of my maidenhead,
The fairest flower of my bodie."
"There is no knight in all my court,125
That thus has robbed thee,
But you'll have the truth of his right hand,
Or else for your sake he'll die,
Tho' it were Earl Richard, my own brother;
And oh forbid that it be!"130
Then, sighing, said the lady fair,
"I wot the samen man is he."
The Queen called on her merry men,
Even fifty men and three;
Earl Richard used to be the first man,135
But now the hindmost was he.
He's taken out one hundred pounds,
And told it in his glove:
Says, "Tak you that, my lady fair,
And seek another love."140
"Oh no, oh no," the lady cried,
"That's what shall never be;
I'll have the truth of your right hand,
The Queen it gave to me."
"I wish I had drunk of your water, sister,145
When I did drink your wine;
That for a carle's fair daughter,
It does gar me dree all this pine."
"May be I am a carle's daughter,
And may be never nane;150
When ye met me in the green wood,
Why did you not let me alane?"