Ballads, Lyrics and Poems of Old France, page 19 by Anonymous
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To my mother and to thee.'
THE BRIDGE OF DEATH.
'The dance is on the Bridge of Death
And who will dance with me?'
'There's never a man of living men
Will dare to dance with thee.'
Now Margaret's gone within her bower
Put ashes in her hair,
And sackcloth on her bonny breast,
And on her shoulders bare.
There came a knock to her bower door,
And blithe she let him in;
It was her brother from the wars,
The dearest of her kin.
'Set gold within your hair, Margaret,
Set gold within your hair,
And gold upon your girdle band,
And on your breast so fair.
'For we are bidden to dance to-night,
We may not bide away;
This one good night, this one fair night,
Before the red new day.'
'Nay, no gold for my head brother,
Nay, no gold for my hair;
It is the ashes and dust of earth
That you and I must wear.
'No gold work for my girdle band,
No gold work on my feet;
But ashes of the fire, my love,
But dust that the serpents eat.'
They danced across the bridge of Death,
Above the black water,
And the marriage-bell was tolled in hell
For the souls of him and her.
LE PERE SEVERE.
KING LOUIS' DAUGHTER.
BALLAD OF THE ISLE OF FRANCE.
King Louis on his bridge is he,
He holds his daughter on his knee.
She asks a husband at his hand
That is not worth a rood of land.
'Give up your lover speedily,
Or you within the tower must lie.'
'Although I must the prison dree,
I will not change my love for thee.
'I will not change my lover fair
Not for the mother that me bare.
'I will not change my true lover
For friends, or for my father dear.'
'Now where are all my pages keen,
And where are all my serving men?
'My daughter must lie in the tower alway,
Where she shall never see the day.'
Seven long years a