XXIII
‘O tell me, tell me, Florentine,
Tell me, an tell me true;
Tell me this day without a flaw
What I will do for you?’—
XXIV
‘Instead of dancers to dance, mither,
Or minstrels for to play,
Turn four-and-twenty well-wight[216] men
Like storks in feathers gray:
XXV
‘My seven sons in seven swans
Aboon their heads to flee;
And I mysel’ a gay goshawk,
A bird o’ high degree.’
XXVI
Then siching said the Queen hersel’,
‘That thing’s too high for me!’
But she applied to an auld woman
Wha had mair skill than she.
XXVII
Instead o’ dancers to dance a dance,
Or minstrels for to play,
Four-and-twenty well-wight men
Turn’d birds o’ feathers gray.