Mediaeval Baebes The Undrentide Lyrics

Undrentide Lyrics

Befell so in the comessing of May,
It happened like this in early
May,

When mirry and hot is the day
When balmy and temperate is the
day,

(And) oway beth winter shours
And winter showers have gone
away,

And every feld is full of flours
And every field is full of
flowers,

And blosme breme on evry bough
And every branch is bright
with blossom,

Overall wexeth mirry anough,
And everything is growing
merrily,

This ich quene Dame Heurodis
This same queen, Dame
Heurodis

Took two maidens of pris
Took two virgins - highly prized
-

And went in an undrentide
And all went together in the
noontide

To play by an orchard side,
To play and sport by an orchard.
s side;

To see the floures sprede and spring
To see the flowers
unfurl, and spring

(And) to here the fowles sing.
Forth from the
earth, and to hear the birds sing.

They set hem down all three
They
sat them down, all three,

Under a faire impe-tree,
Under a grafted
fairy-tree,

And wel sone this faire quene
And soon the lovely
Queen

Fell on slepe opon the grene.
Fell asleep upon the
green.

The maidens durst hir nought awake
To wake her up, the maidens
dared not do.

Bot lete hir ligge and rest take.
They let her lie and
take her rest

(So) she slepe till after none,
And so she slept til
noontide passed -

That undrentide was all ydone
Until that midday was
over at last.

(That undrentide was all ydone)
Until that midday was
over at last.

Ac as sone (as) she gan awake
But as soon as she
started awake

She cried and lothly bere gan make;
She cried aloud
with a hateful wailing

She froted hir honden and hir feet
Wringing
her hands, and her feet

And cracched hir visage, it blede weet;
And
clawing her face until it was wet with blood;

Hir riche robe hie all
to-rett
She tore her rich robe into shreds

And was reveyd out of hir
wit.
And was driven out of her mind in grieving.

The two maidens hir
beside
Her two attendant virgins

No durst with hir no leng
abide,
Dared not stay longer at her side,

Bot urn to the palais full
right
But they raced to the palace

And tolde bothe squier and
knight
And told the knights and squires

That her quene awede
wold,
That the Queen was on the brink of madness,

And bad hem go and
hir athold.
And told them to go and restrain her.

Knightes urn and
levedis also,
The knights, and the ladies too,

Damisels sexty and
mo.
And the damsels (sixty or more) ran to the Queen.

In they orchard
to the quene hie come
They reached her, at the orchard,

And hir up in
her armes nome
And took her up in their arms.

And brought hir to bed
atte last
They bore her to her bed

And held hir there fine
fast
And bound her tightly there -

Ac ever she held in o cry
But
she kept on crying out the same thing,

And wolde up and owy.
That she
wanted to be up and away.