66 Saving there came a little hawk
Which men call a Merlion,

Unto the ground he struck him then
That dead he did fall down.

"If I were a man, as I am none,
A battle I would prove,-

I would fight with that false traitor :
At him I cast my glove!

66 Seeing I am able no battle to make,
You must grant me, my liege! a knight
To fight with that traitor Aldingar,
To maintain me in my right.”

"I'll give thee forty days," said our King,-
"To seek thee a man therein :

If thou find not a man in forty days,
In a hot fire thou shalt brinn."

Our Queen sent forth a messenger;
He rode fast into the South,

He rode the countries through and through
So far unto Portsmouth.

He could find never man in the South country
That would fight with the knight so keen.

The second messenger the Queen forth sent
Rode far into the East;

But-blessed be God made sun and moon!
He sped then all of the best.

As he rode then by one river side,

There he met with a little child :

He seemed no more, in a man's likeness,
Than a child of four years old.

He ask'd the Queen's messenger how far he rode; Loath he was him to tell

(The Little One was offended at him);

Bade him adieu, farewell!

Said "Turn thou again, thou messenger!
Greet our Queen well from me :

When bale is at highest, boot is at next,-
Help enough there may be.

"Bid our Queen remember what she did dream,
In her bed whereas she lay :

She dream'd the grype, and the grimly beast,
Had carried her crown away,

"Her gorget, and her kirtle of gold,
Also her fair head [array];

He would have worried her with his tush
And borne her to his nest [away],-

Saving there came a little hawk,

Men call him a Merlion;

Unto the ground he did strike him,
That dead he did fall down.

"Bid the Queen be merry at her heart,
Ever more light and glad :

When bale is at highest, boot is at next,-
Help enough there shall be [had]."

Then the Queen's messenger rode back;
A gladded man was he :

When he came before our [comely] Queen
A glad woman then was she.

She gave the messenger twenty pounds,
O Lord! in gold and fee:

Says-" Spend and spare not while this doth last ;
Then fetch thou more of me!"

Our Queen was put in a tun, to burn;
She thought but death [at least]:

They were ware of the Little One
Came riding forth of the East.

With a Mu[le upon which he rode]
A lovely child was he :
When he came to that fire

He light the Queen full nigh;

Said "Draw away these brands of fire
Lie burning before our Queen,
And fetch me hither Sir Aldingar,
That is a knight so keen!"

When Aldingar saw that Little One,
Full little of him he thought:
If there had been a hundred such,
Of them he would not have wrought.

He said "Come hither, Sir Aldingar!
Thou seemest as big as a fooder:
I trust to God ere I've done with thee
God will send to us good augre."

Says "The first stroke that's given, Sir Aldingar!

I will give unto thee;

And if the second give thou may,

Look then thou spare not me!"

The Little One pull'd forth a well good sword:

He struck the first stroke at Aldingar,

He struck away his legs by his knee.

Says "Stand up, stand up, thou false traitor !

And fight upon thy feet :

For an thou thrive as thou begins,

Of a height we shall be meet."

"A priest! a priest!" says Aldingar,

"Me for to howzel and shrive :

A priest! a priest !" says Aldingar,— "While I'm a man living alive.

"I would have lain by our comely Queen;
To it she would never consent;
I thought to betray her to our King,
In a fire to have her brent.

"There came a lame lazar to the King's gate, A lazar both blind and lame;

"I took the lazar upon my back,

In the Queen's bed I did him lay;

I bade him lie still, lazar! where he lay,
Look he went not away,—

I would make him a whole man and a souud
In two hours of a day.

"Ever alack!" says Sir Aldingar,→
"Falsing doth never well.

"Forgive, forgive me, Queen Madam !
For Christ's love forgive me!"
"God forgave his death, Aldingar!
And freely I forgive thee."

"Now take thy wife, thou King Harry!

And love her as thou [shall]!

Thy wife she is as true to thee
As stone [in] the castle wall."

The lazar under the gallows tree
Was a pretty man and small :
The lazar under the gallows tree

Was made steward in King Henry's hall.

CHILD MAURICE.

Child Maurice hunted the silver wood,

He hunted it round about,

And nobody he found therein,

Nor none there was without.

And he took his silver comb in his hand
To comb his yellow locks;

He says-" Come hither, thou little foot page
Runneth lowly by my knee!

For thou shalt go to John Steward's wife,
And pray her speak with me.

"And as it falls out, many times

As knots been knit on a kell,

And merchant men gone to leave London,
Either to buy ware or sell,

"And greet thou do that Lady well, Ever so well from me.

"And as it falls out, many times
As any heart can think,

As schoolmasters are in any school house,
Writing with pen and ink,

"For if I might as well as she may,
This night I would with her speak.

"And here I send her a mantle of green,
As green as any grass;

And bid her come to the silver wood
To hunt with Child Maurice!

"And there I send her a ring of gold, A ring of precious stane;