"
HE.
"Lo yet, before, ye must do more,
If ye will go with me:
As cut your hair up by your ear,
Your kirtle by the knee,
With bow in hand, for to withstand
Your enemies, if need be:
And this same night, before daylight,
To woodward will I flee.
An ye will all this fulfil,
Do it shortly as ye can:
Else will I to the green wood go,
Alone, a banished man."
SHE.
"I shall as now do more for you
Than 'longeth to womanhede;
To short my hair, a bow to bear,
To shoot in time of need.
O my sweet mother! before all other
For you have I most drede!
But now, adieu! I must ensue,
Where fortune doth me lead.
All this make ye. Now let us flee;
The day comes fast upon:
For, in my mind, of all mankind
I love but you alone."
HE.
"Nay, nay, not so; ye shall not go,
And I shall tell you why,--
Your appetite is to be light
Of love, I well espy:
For, right as ye have said to me,
In like wise hardily
Ye would answere whosoever it were,
In way of company,
It is said of old, Soon hot, soon cold;
And so is a wom-an:
Wherefore I to the wood will go,
Alone, a banished man.
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