4 'Here is a ring, a ring,' he says,
'It's all gold but the stane;
You may tell her to come to the merry green-wood,
And ask the leave o nane.'
5 'So well do I love your errand, my master,
But far better do I love my life;
O would ye have me go to Lord Barnard's castle,
To betray away his wife?'
6 'O don't I give you meat,' he says,
'And don't I pay you fee?
How dare you stop my errand?' he says;
'My orders you must obey.'
7 O when he came to Lord Bernard's castle,
He tinkled at the ring;
Who was as ready as Lord Barnard himself
To let this little boy in?
8 'Here is a glove, a glove,' he says,
'Lined with the silver grey;
You are bidden to come to the merry green-wood,
To speak to Child Nory.
9 'Here is a ring, a ring,' he says,
'It's all gold but the stane;
You are bidden to come to the merry green-wood,
And ask the leave o nane.'
10 Lord Barnard he was standing by,
And an angry man was he:
'O little did I think there was a lord in the world
My lady loved but me!'
11 O he dressed himself in the holland smock,
And garments that was gay,
And he is away to the merry green-wood,
To speak to Child Nory.
12 Child Noryce sits on yonder tree,
He whistles and he sings:
'O wae be to me,' says Child Noryce,
'Yonder my mother comes!'
13 Child Noryce he came off the tree,
His mother to take off the horse:
'Och alace, alace,' says Child Noryce,
'My mother was neer so gross!'