Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/70

She. I think not nay but as ye say;
         It is no maiden's lore;
       But love may make me for your sake,
         As I have said before,
       To come on foot, to hunt and shoot.
         To get us meat and store;
       For so that I your company
         May have, I ask no more.
       From which to part it maketh my heart
         As cold as any stone;
       For, in my mind, of all mankind
         I love but you alone.

He. For an outlàw this is the law,
         That men him take and bind:
       Without pitie, hangèd to be,
         And waver with the wind.
       If I had need (as God forbede!)
         What socours could ye find?
       Forsooth I trow, you and your bow
         For fear would draw behind.
       And no mervail; for little avail
         Were in your counsel than:
       Wherefore I'll to the green-wood go,
         Alone, a banished man.

She. Right well know ye that women be
         But feeble for to fight;
       No womanhede it is, indeed,
         To be bold as a knight:
       Yet in such fear if that ye were
         With enemies day and night,