They had no time for falling out Ere Nancibel came by. [Illustration: 0139] "What's in your basket, Nancibel?" "There's cakes and currant wine, There's venison and good cider, lads; Come quickly, come and dine." They were two bonny mowers Fell to among the best; The youngest sits a-fasting, His head upon his breast. "What ails ye, bonny mower, You sit so mournfully?" "Alas! what ails me, Nancibel? 'Tis all the love of thee." "Now laugh and quaff, my bonny lad, And think no more o' me. My lover is a finer man Than any twain o' ye. "He's bought for me a kirtle, He's bought for me a coat, Of three-and-thirty colours, Wi' tassels at the throat. "And twenty Maids of Honour They stitched at it a year, And sewed in all their needlework The kisses of my dear!" ----A. M. F. Robinson (Darmesteter). THE TOWER OF ST MAUR |Where's my little son, Nourrice, And whither is he gone? The youngest son of all I have, He should not gang alone." "The child is safe enough, lady; He's barely gone an hour: He's gone to see the mason-men, Are building at the tower." "You should have kept him here, Nourrice, If I was sleeping then-- He's over young to gang alone Among the mason-men." "Lie still, lie still, my sweet lady, There's nought to sorrow for; The child is safe enough, I think, I' the keeping of St Maur!" An hour's gone by, an hour or two, And still they're out-of-door-- "I wish they'd come at last, Nourrice, My heart is sick and sore." "Now hush, lady, my sweet lady, The moon's still small and young; If they're home before the curfew bell They'll not ha' stayed too long." St Maur has ta'en his youngest son, To the riverside they're gone, To see the busy mason-men Building a tower of stone. "O why do they build the tower so strong Against the riverside? I never saw the wall, father, That was so strong and wide." "God knows the tower had need be strong Between my foes and thee! Should once Lord Armour enter, child, An ill death would ye dee." "We need not fear Lord Armour, father, Nor any of his kin; Since God has given us such a wall, They cannot enter in." "O twice, my babe, and thrice, my babe, Ere ever that I was born, Lord Armour's men have entered in Betwixt the night and the morn. "And once I found my nurse's room Was red with bloody men... I would not have thy mother die As died my mother then. "And 'tis not seven nights ago I heard, clear in a dream, The bugle cry of Armour, Shrill over wood and stream." "But if so foul a raid, father, Fell out so long agone, Why did they never build before A wall and tower of stone?" "Many's the time, my pretty babe, Ere ever this way you went, We built the tower both thick and broad--