They prate and prattle pleasantly,
As they rode on the way,
To those that should their butchers be
And work their lives' decay.
So that the pretty speech they had
Made murderers' hearts relent;
And they that undertook the deed
Full sore they did repent.
Yet one of them, more hard of heart,
Did vow to do his charge;
Because the wretch that hired him
Had paid him very large.
The other would not agree thereto,
So here they fell at strife;
With one another they did fight
About the children's life.
And he that was of mildest mood
Did slay the other there,
Within an unfrequented wood,
While babes did quake with fear.
He took the children by the hand,
When tears stood in their eye,
And bade them come and go with him,
And look they did not cry.
And two long miles he led them on,
While they for food complain;
Stay here, (quoth he), I'll bring you bread
When I do come again.
These pretty babes, with hand in hand,
Went wandering up and down,
But never more they saw the man
Approaching from the town.
Their pretty lips with blackberries
Were all besmear'd and dyed;
And when they saw the darksome night,
They sate them down and cried.
Thus wander'd these two pretty babes
Till death did end their grief,—
In one another's arms they died,
As babes wanting relief.
No burial these pretty babes
Of any man receives,
Till Robin-red-breast, painfully,
Did cover them with leaves.
And now the heavy wrath of God
Upon their uncle fell;
Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,
His conscience felt an hell:
His barns were fir'd-his goods consum'd,-
His lands were barren made,-
His cattle died within the field,
And nothing with him stay'd.
And in the voyage to Portugal
Two of his sons did die;
And, to conclude, himself was brought
To extreme misery :
He pawn'd and mortgag'd all his land
Ere seven years came about.
And now at length this wicked act
Did by this means come out.
The fellow that did take in hand
These children for to kill,
Was for a robbery judg'd to die,
As was God's blessed will;
Who did confess the very truth,
The which is here express'd :
Their uncle died while he for debt
In prison long did rest.
All you that be executors made,
And overseers eke,
Of children that be fatherless,
And infants mild and meek;
Take you example by this thing,
And yield to each his right,
Lest God, with such like misery,
Your wicked minds requite.
GOD prosper long our noble king,
Our lives and safeties all,
A woeful hunting once there did
In Chevy-Chase befall.-
To drive the deer with hound and horn
Earl Percy took his way,
The child may rue that is unborn
The hunting of that day.
The stout Earl of Northumberland
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish woods
Three summer days to take;-
The chiefest harts in Chevy-Chase
To kill and bear away.
The tidings to Earl Douglas came,
In Scotland where he lay;
Who sent Earl Percy present word,
He would prevent his sport.
The English Earl, not fearing this,
Did to the woods resort,
With fifteen hundred bow-men bold,
All chosen men of might,
Who knew full well, in time of need,
To aim their shafts aright.
The gallant greyhounds quickly ran,
To chase the fallow-deer;
On Monday they began to hunt,
Ere day-light did appear;
And long before high noon they had
An hundred fat bucks slain,
Then having din'd, the drovers went
To rouse them up again.
The bow-men muster'd on the hills,
Well able to endure;
Their every side with special care,
That day were guarded sure.
The hounds ran swiftly thro' the woods The nimble deer to take,
And with their cries the hills and dales An echo shrill did make.
Lord Percy to the quarry went,
To view the tender deer;
Quoth he, Earl Douglas promised
This day to meet me here.
But if I thought he would not come,
No longer would I stay.
With that a brave young gentleman
Thus to the Earl did say.
Lo! yonder doth Earl Douglas come,
His men in armour bright;
Full twenty hundred Scottish spears
All marching in our sight;
All men of pleasant Tivydale,
Fast by the river Tweed.
Then cease your sport, Earl Percy said, And take your bows with speed:
And now with me, my countrymen,
Your courage forth advance;
For never was there champion yet,
In Scotland or in France,
That ever did on horseback come,
But, if my hap it were,
I durst encounter, man for man,
With him to break a spear.
Earl Douglas on a milk-white steed,
Most like a baron bold,
Rode foremost of his company,
Whose armour shone like gold:
Shew me, said he, whose men ye be
That hunt so boldly here,
That, without my consent, do chase
And kill my fallow-deer?
The man that first did answer make
Was noble Percy he;
Who said, we list not to declare,
Nor shew whose men we be :
Yet we will spend our dearest blood,
Thy chiefest harts to slay.
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