XVIII
Says, ‘Do thou me off that velvet gown,
The crimson hose beneath thy knee,
And do me off thy cordinant[471] shoon
That are buckled with the gold so free.
XIX
‘Do thou me off thy satin doublèt,
Thy shirtband wrought wi’ glisterin’ gold,
And do me off thy golden chain
About thy neck with many a fold.
XX
‘And do me off thy velvet hat,
With feather in it that is so fine;
And all unto thy silken shirt,
That’s work’d with many a golden seam.’
XXI
But when the child was naked stript,
With skin as white as the lily flow’r,
He might, for his body and his bewtie,
Have been a princess’ paramour.
XXII
He put him in an old kelter[472] coat,
And hose of the same above the knee,
And he bade him go to a shepherd’s house,
To tend sheep on a lonely lee.