Some deedes of armes if thou wilt doe,55
My bacheleere to bee,
(But ever and aye my heart wold rue,
Giff[351] harm shold happe to thee,)]
Upon Eldridge[352] hill there groweth a thorne,
Upon the mores brodinge;[353]60
And dare ye, syr knighte, wake there all nighte
Until the fayre mornìnge?
For the Eldridge knighte, so mickle[354] of mighte,
Will examine you beforne:[355]
And never man bare life awaye,65
But he did him scath[356] and scorne.
[That knighte he is a foul paynìm,[357]
And large of limb and bone;
And but if heaven may be thy speede,
Thy life it is but gone.70
Nowe on the Eldridge hilles Ile walke,[358]
For thy sake, fair ladìe;]
And He either bring you a ready tokèn,
Or He never more you see
The lady is gone to her own chaumbère,75
Her maydens following bright:
[Syr Cauline lope[359] from care-bed soone,
And to the Eldridge hills is gone,]
For to wake there all night.
Unto midnight, that the moone did rise,80
He walked up and downe;
Then a lightsome bugle heard he blowe
Over the bents[360] soe browne;
Quoth hee, If cryance come till[361] my heart,
I am ffar from any good towne.85
And soone he spyde on the mores so broad,
A furyous wight and fell;[362]
A ladye bright his brydle led,
Clad in a fayre kyrtèll:
And soe fast he called on syr Caulìne,90
O man, I rede[363] thee flye,
For 'but' if cryance comes till thy heart,
I weene but thou mun dye.
He sayth, 'No' cryance comes till my heart,
Nor, in faith, I wyll not flee;95
For, cause thou minged[364] not Christ before,
The less me dreadeth thee.
[The Eldridge knighte, he pricked his steed;
Syr Cauline bold abode:
Then either shooke his trustye speare,]100
And the timber these two children[365] bare
Soe soone in sunder slode.[366]