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But your own body I must have,
the king hath granted me.
Would I had drunk the water clear,
when I had drunk the wine,
Rather than any Shepherd’s brat
should be a lady of mine!
Would I had drunk the puddle foul,
when I did drink the ale,
Rather than ever a shepherd’s brat,
Should tell me such a tale!
A Shepherd’s brat even as I was,
you might have let me be;
I never had come to the king’s fair court,
to crave any love of thee.
He set her on a milk white steed,
and himself upon a grey;
He hung a bougle upon her neck,
and so they rode away.
But when they came unto the place,
where marriage rites were done,
She prov’d herself a duke’s daughter,
and he but a squire’s son.
Nowmarry me, or not, sir knight,
