"Take ye no dread, my lady gay, 115
Lat a your folly be;
If ye com a maiden to green wood,
You'll return the same for me."
The lady she went home again
Wi a mary on every hand; 120
She was so very sick in love,
She could not sit nor stand.
It was a dark and cloudy night,
No stars beam'd o'er the lea,
When the lady and the hireman met 125
Beneath a spreading tree.
He took the lady in his arms,
Embraced her tenderlie,
And thrice he kiss'd her rosy lips
Under the green wood tree. 130
"Hold off your hands, young man, I pray;
I wonder much at thee;
The man that holds my father's plow,
To lay his hands on me."
"No harm I mean, my winsome dame, 135
No impudence at a';
I never laid a hand on you
Till your libertie I saw."
"It is a dark and dismal night, 140
The dew is falling down;
I will go home, least I should spoil
My cap and satin gown."
"If you are wearied so soon,
Why did ye tryst me here?" 145
"I would not weary with you, my dear,
Tho this night were a year."
When morning beams began to peep
Among the branches green,
The lovers rose, and part to meet, 150
And tell their tale again.
"Ye will go home unto the plow,
Where often ye hae been;
I'll tak my mantle folded up,
And walk i the garden green. 155