Volume II Part 77 (2/2)
”The dawn above your thatch is red!
Slip out of your bed, sweet Anne!
I have stolen a fairy buck,” he said, ”The first since the world began.
VI
”Roast it on a golden spit, And see that it do not burn; For we never shall feather the like of it Out of the fairy fern.”
VII
She scarce had donned her long white gown And given him kisses four, When the surly Sheriff of Stratford-town Knocked at the little green door.
VIII
They have gaoled sweet Will for a poacher; But squarely he fronts the squire, With ”When did you hear in your woods of a deer?
Was it under a fairy briar?”
IX
Sir Thomas he puffs,--”If G.o.d thought good My water-b.u.t.t ran with wine, Or He dropt me a buck in Charlecote wood, I wot it is mine, not thine!”
X
”If you would eat of elfin meat,”
Says Will, ”you must blow up your horn!
Take your bow, and feather the doe That's under the fairy thorn!
XI
”If you would feast on elfin food, You've only the way to learn!
Take your bow and feather the doe That's under the fairy fern!”
XII
They're hunting high, they're hunting low, They're all away, away, With horse and hound to feather the doe That's under the fairy spray!
XIII
Sir Thomas he raged! Sir Thomas he swore!
But all and all in vain; For there never was deer in his woods before, And there never would be again!
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