Love me little, love me long,
Is the burden of my song.
Love that is too hot and strong
Burneth soon to waste:
Still, I would not have thee cold,
Not too backward, nor too bold;
Love that lasteth till ’ tis old
Fadeth not in haste.
Love me little, love me long,
Is the burden of my song.
Now goth sonne under wod:
Me reweth, Marye, thy faire rode.
Now goth sonne under tree:
Me reweth, Marye, thy sone and thee.
I
1
Pearl, the precious prize of a king,
Chastely set in cherished gold,
In all the East none equalling,
No peer to her could I behold.
So round, so rare, a radiant thing,
So smooth she was, so small of mold,
Wherever I judged gems glimmering
I set her apart, her price untold.
Alas, I lost her in earth’ s green fold;
Through grass to the ground, I searched in vain.
I languish alone; my heart grows cold
For my precious pearl without a stain.
2
Quick! quick!
The cat's been sick.
Where? where?
Under the chair.
Hasten! hasten!
Fetch the basin.
Alack! alack!
It is too late,
The carpet's in
An awful state.
My father has a pair of shoes
So beautiful to see.
I want to wear my father's shoes.
They are too big for me.
My baby brother has a pair
As cunning as can be.
My feet won't go into that pair.
They are too small for me.
There's only one thing that I can do
Till I get small or grown.
If I want to have some fitting shoes
I'll have to wear my own.
There once was a bamboo ladder.
It reached up to the sky.
And the Japanese man
Did tricks on the ladder
And said what a good man am I.
Sing, cuccu, nu. Sing, cuccu.
Sing, cuccu. Sing, cuccu, nu.
Sumer is i-cumin in —
Lhude sing, cuccu!
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springth the wude nu.
Sing, cuccu!
A fox jumped out one winter’ s night,
And begged the moon to give him light.
For he’ d many miles to trot that night
Before he reached his den O!
Den O! Den O!
For he’ d many miles to trot that night before he reached his den O!
The first place he came to was a farmer’ s yard,
Where the ducks and the geese declared it hard
That their nerves should be shaken and their rest so marred
By a visit from Mr. Fox O!
Fox O! Fox O!
That their nerves should be shaken and their rest so marred
By a visit from Mr. Fox O!
Sitteth alle stille and herkneth to me!
The King of Alemaigne, by mi leaute,
Thritty thousand pound askede he
For to make the pees in the countre —
And so he dude more.
Richard, thah thou be ever trichard,
Tricchen shalt thou nevermore.
The first day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.
The second day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The third day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The fourth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
