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For she knew 'twas her true love by the ring on his hand.
4. She kissed him, she hugged him, she called him her dear.
She kissed him, and she hugged him len thousand timeo'er,
She says. "I am contented to lay by your side."
In a few moments after this damsel she died.
5. In Robin Hood churchyard this couple was carried,
In Robin Hood churchyard this couple was buried.
Come all you true lovers that do pass here by,
Go see how contented this couple do lie.
Come all you true lovers since my joys they're all ned,
My gmve is instead of a new marriage bed.
The second plol has the maiden make the tragic discovery of her lover's dead body by
his ring, the symbol of their commitment Here, it is the irrefutable evidence (no longer the
hypothesis or pretence) of his death which puts her fidelity to the les!. Either her vows of
austerity, longing for death or mortal grief give her answer. The traditional aversion 10 "'l
watery gmve" slill gives Ihe measure of such love:
I wish I were a-sleeping too
In the anns of my true love in the ocean blue;
My SQullo my God and my body in the sea.
And the white waves rolling over me. t
Although the maiden dies of grief, she wins a moral victory; reunion with her lover is her
reward, and her extreme devotion is proposed as an example 10 her kind:
Come all ye fair maids take a warning
Don'l ye never object a cold grave
Be like Nancy fond hearted true louvyer
Who died for Thomas a sailor so brave. 2
9.2.3. "lIow can you lay your head on another man's pillow?")
The Nobleman's Wedding4
I . I was invited 10 a nobleman's wedding
To a loving fair one that proved unkind
Soon she begun for to think of her fellow
The fonner true lovyer she left behind.
1Peacock, Songs 2: 439, s\. 5.
2MUNR..A ms 78·236. p. 191, SI. 9.
3 MU FLA ms 78·054, Book I, p. 4. 51. 3; songs belonging to lhis catcgory arc. for inslancc,
Pcacock. Songs 2: 380-2; 441-2; 3: 682-6; 691-7; 673-4; Lchr 159-60; MUNFLA ms 7R­
236/C1548B, p. 112
4MUNFLA ms 78·236, p. 79.