The Fair Ilona

“Heaven bless you,

Judge, my lord,

Keep your house

In safe accord.”

“What kind fortune

Did you send

To my house

Your steps to bend?”

“I led my geese

To meadows green,

The judge’s son

With stones was seen,

He killed my gosling

Of yellow sheen.”

“What shall be paid,

Ilona fair,

For thy young gosling

The lad killed there?”

“For each of his feathers,

A ducat bright;

For each of his feet,

A spoon so white;

For his two wings

Two salvers dight;

For his warbling throat

A horn of might.”

“If your demands

You place so high,

Upon the gallows

The lad must die.”

“May the gallows tree

Be a rose, my lord,

And my two arms

Its strangling cord.”