The chiefest harts in Chevy Chase,
To kill and bear away.
These tidings to Earl Douglas came
In Scotland, where he lay.
Who sent Earl Percy present word,
He would prevent his sport.
The English Earl, not fearing that,
Did to the woods resort
With fifteen hundred bowmen bold,
All chosen men of might,
Who knew full well, in time of need,
To aim their shafts aright.
The gallant greyhounds swiftly ran,
To chase the fallow deer.
On Monday, they began to hunt,
Ere daylight did appear;
And long before high noon they had
A hundred fat bucks slain:
Then, having dined, the drovers went
To rouse the deer again.
The hounds ran swiftly through the woods,
The nimble deer to take,
That with their cries the hills and dales
An echo shrill did make.
Lord Percy, to the quarry went,
To view the slaughtered deer,
Quoth he, 'Earl Douglas promiséd
This day to meet me here:
'But if I thought he would not come,
No longer would I stay!'
With that, a brave young gentleman,
Thus to the Earl did say:
'Lo! yonder doth Earl Douglas come!
His men in armour bright!
Full twenty hundred Scottish spears
All marching in our sight!
'All pleasant men of Tividale,
Fast by the river Tweed.'
'O, cease your sports!' Earl Percy said,
'And take your bows with speed;