“ Why thou hast ne’er wedded some fair demoiselle?”
“What need with a housewife myself to distress,
So long as my little gold horn I possess?
“So long as my little gold horn I possess,
I lure every maid I may wish to caress.
“The Damsel is not in the world to be found,
But what I can lure with that little horn’s sound.”
“I know a proud damsel that dwells by the rill,
On her thou couldst never accomplish thy will.
p. 23“I’ll gage my war courser, the steady and tried,
Thou never canst lure the fair Mettie, my bride.” ”

“ And that she brought in good Sir Loumor before.
She took off the chaplet her brow from around,
And firmly the hands of Sir Loumor she bound.
“Now wake thou, Sir Loumor, and speak to thy wife,
I’ll not, whilst thou sleepest, deprive thee of life.
“Now drink, O Sir Loumor, the kind and the good,
Drink, drink thy dear brothers’ and sisters’ heart’s blood.”
“O sore would the thirst be, O Signild, full sore,
That ever could tempt me to drink of that gore.
p. 14“Thyself to thy bed, my sweet Signild, betake,
For the death of my kindred my heart will not break.” ”

“ With his foot he the cradle has spurned with such force
That out rolled the baby, a blood-besprent corse.
So matters passed on ’till of evening the fall,
To the evening repast the relations went all. ”

“ The youth despising all alarms
With spur so keen his courser urges,
Seven knights he meets in burnished arms
From out the wood as he emerges.
“Ha, early met, thou warrior good,
Pray tell us what thou hast been doing!” ”

“ I dare not, O Mettie, fling open my door.”
“Since into thy bower thou lett’st me not come,
O let thy swains guide me, dear heart, to my home.”
“The night it is bright, and the moon sheds her ray,
Fair maid, thou wilt find without trouble thy way.
“The moon’s in the sky, and shines clear o’er the mead,
So back by thyself to thy chamber proceed.”
The maid, and the little brown messan her friend,
They home through the forest so lonely must wend. ”

“ To the stools at the bottom her brothers she led.
p. 8To Sir Loumor she handed the stout ruddy wine,
To her brothers she only sweet milk will assign.
Sir Loumor pretended to drink deep and fast,
But in secret the wine down beneath him he cast.
Proud Signild now to the bed chamber wends,
And the bed she prepares for her dear-beloved friends.
The bed she outspreads on the hard rugged stone,
And that to prevent them from sleeping was done.
And under their sides she placed slily their knives,
Which well they might trust in defence of their lives. ”