“A faithful brother I will be,
And in your cause I death will suffer;
And her I’ll hold in respect and love,
And nothing more a knight can proffer.”
“Thou shalt not get the maid for mate,
But thou shalt die, thou knight enamour’d;
So make thy shrift ’neath the linden straight,
The little birds shall hear it stammer’d.
“Now wilt thou stand, or wilt thou fly
Into the deep wood for protection;
Or guard thy young life valiantly,
To prove thy courage and affection?”
“O I will stand, nor craven fly
Unto the murky wood for cover,
I’ll guard my life right valiantly,
And thus I’ll prove me worthy of her.”
First one he slew, then quickly two,
His knightly courage well display’d he;
But, though his seven foes he slew,
With his own life full dearly paid he.
When the tidings reached the maiden’s ear
She let fall briny tears in plenty;
But if for her kin she shed one tear,
She shed I ween for the bold knight twenty.
DAMSEL METTIE.
Knights Peter and Olaf they sat o’er the board,
Betwixt them in jesting passed many a word.
“Now hear thou, Sir Olaf my comrade, do tell
Why thou hast ne’er wedded some fair demoiselle?”
“What need with a housewife myself to distress,
So long as my little gold horn I possess?