The chiefest harts in Chevy-Chace
To kill and bear away:
The tidings to Earl Douglas came,15
In Scotland where he lay.
Who sent Earl Piercy present word,
He would prevent his sport;
The English earl not fearing this,
Did to the woods resort,20
With fifteen hundred bow-men bold
All chosen men of might,
Who knew full well in time of need
To aim their shafts aright.
The gallant greyhounds swiftly ran,25
To chase the fallow deer;
On Monday they began to hunt,
When day-light did appear.
And long before high noon they had
An hundred fat bucks slain;30
Then having din'd, the drovers went
To rouze them up again.
The bow-men muster'd on the hills,
Well able to endure;
Their backsides all, with special care,35
That day were guarded sure.
The hounds ran swiftly thro' the woods,
The nimble deer to take,
And with their cries the hills and dales
An eccho shrill did make.40
Lord Piercy to the quarry went,
To view the tender deere;
Quoth he, "Earl Douglas promised
This day to meet me heer.
"If that I thought he would not come,45
No longer would I stay."
With that, a brave young gentleman
Thus to the Earl did say: