Martin Lightfoot’s Song346
Come hearken, hearken, gentles all,
Come hearken unto me,
And I’ll sing you a song of a Wood-Lyon
Came swimming out over the sea.
He rangèd west, he rangèd east,
And far and wide ranged he;
He took his bite out of every beast
Lives under the greenwood tree.
Then by there came a silly old wolf,
‘And I’ll serve you,’ quoth he;
Quoth the Lyon, ‘My paw is heavy enough,
So what wilt thou do for me?’
Then by there came a cunning old fox,
‘And I’ll serve you,’ quoth he;
Quoth the Lyon, ‘My wits are sharp enough
So what wilt thou do for me?’
Then by there came a white, white dove,
Flew off Our Lady’s knee;
Sang ‘It’s I will be your true, true love,
If you’ll be true to me.’
‘And what will you do, you bonny white dove?
And what will you do for me?’
‘Oh, it’s I’ll bring you to Our Lady’s love,
In the ways of chivalrie.’
He followed the dove that Wood-Lyon
By mere and wood and wold,
Till he is come to a perfect knight,
Like the Paladin of old.
He rangèd east, he rangèd west,
And far and wide ranged he—
And ever the dove won him honour and fame
In the ways of chivalrie.
Then by there came a foul old sow,
Came rookling under the tree;
And ‘It’s I will be true love to you,
If you’ll be true to me.’
‘And what wilt thou do, thou foul old sow?
And what wilt thou do for me?’
‘Oh, there hangs in my snout a jewel of gold,
And that will I give to thee.’
He took to the sow that Wood-Lyon;
To the rookling sow took he;
And the dove flew up to Our Lady’s bosom;
And never again throve he.
Notes
211 This and the following poem were written at school in early boy-hood.
216 Lines supposed to be found written in an illuminated missal.
260 Found among Sandy Mackaye’s papers, of a hairy oubit who would not mind his mother.
282 The Christian Socialist, started by the Council of Associates for promotion of Co-operation.
295 Bishop of Labuan, in Borneo.
303 This Ode was set to Professor Sterndale Bennet’s music, and sung in the Senate House, Cambridge, on the Day of Installation.
306 His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, Chancellor of Cambridge University.
319 Impromptu lines written in the album of the Crown Princess of Germany.
325 Time of the Franco-Prussian War.
330 The Qu’est qu’il dit is a Tropical bird.
331a This myth about the famous Pitch Lake of Trinidad was told almost word for word to a M. Joseph by an aged half-caste Indian who went by the name of Señor Trinidada. The manners and customs which the ballad described, and the cruel and dangerous destruction of the beautiful birds of Trinidad, are facts which may be easily verified by any one who will take the trouble to visit the West Indies.
331b A magnificent wood of the Mauritia Fanpalm, on the south shore of the Pitch Lake.
331c Humming-birds.
331d Maximiliana palms.
332 Hut of timber and palm-leaves.
333 From the Eriodendron, or giant silk-cotton.
334 Spigelia anthelmia, a too-well-known poison-plant.
335a Cœlogenys Paca.
335b Wild cavy.
335c Armadillo.
335d Peccary hog.
335e Trigonia.
335f Penelope.
335g Palamedea.
335h Dove.
335i Mimusops.
335j Spondias.
335k An esculent Arum.
335l Jatropha manihot, ‘Cassava.’
335m Vitis Caribæa.
335n Euterpe, ‘mountain cabbage’ palm.
335o Mauritia palm.
336a Musa.
336b Pine-apple.
337 Food.
338 Sung by 1000 School Children at the Opening of the New Wing of the Children’s Hospital, Birmingham.
346 Supposed to be sung at Crowland Minster to Leofric, the Wake’s Mass Priest, when news was received of Hereward’s second marriage to Alftruda.