She called to her little pageboy
Who was her brother's son
She told him quick as he could go
To bring her lord safe home
Now the very first mile he would walk
And the second he would run
And when he came to a broken, broken bridge
He bent his breast and swum
And when he came to the new castell
The lord was set at meat;
If you were to know as much as I
How little you would eat!
O is my tower falling, falling down
Or doеs my bower burn?
Or is my gay lady put to bed
With a daughter or a son?
O no, your towеr is not falling down
Nor does your bower burn;
But we are afraid ere you return
Your lady will be dead and gone
Come saddle, saddle my milk-white steed
Come saddle my pony too
That I may neither eat nor drink
Till I come to the old castell
Now when he came to the old castell
He heard a big bell toll;
And then he saw eight noble, noble men
A bearing of a pall
Lay down, lay down, that gentle, gentle corpse
As it lay fast asleep
That I may kiss her red ruby lips
Which I used to kiss so sweet
Six times he kissed her red ruby lips
Nine times he kissed her chin
Ten times he kissed her snowy, snowy breast
Where love did enter in
The lady was buried on that Sunday
Before the prayer was done;
And the lord he died on the next Sunday
Before the prayer begun