XI
‘O, is she in the parlour?’ he said,
‘Or is she in the hall?
Or is she in the long chamber
Amongst her merry maids all?’—
XII
‘No, she’s not in the parlour,’ they said,
‘Nor she’s not in the hall:
But she is in the long chamber,
Laid out against the wall.’—
XIII
He turnèd up the covering-sheet,
And look’d upon the dead.
‘Methinks her lips are pale and wan,
She has lost her cherry red.’
XIV
With that bespake the seven brothers,
Making a piteous moan:
‘You may go kiss your jolly brown bride,
And let our sister alone.’—
XV
‘If I do kiss my jolly brown bride,
I do but what is right;
For I made no vow to your sister dear,
By day nor yet by night.