Read "The Little Serving Maid" by Hilaire Belloc online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I. There was a Queen of England, / And a good Queen too.
She had a house in Powis Land / With the Severn running through; / And Men-folk and Women-folk / Apprenticed to a trade; / But the prettiest of all / Was a Little Serving Maid.
II. "Oh Madam, Queen of England!
Oh will you let me go!
For there's a Lad in London / And he would have it so.
And I would have it too, Madam, / And with him would I bide; / And he will be the Groom, Madam, / And I shall be the Bride!"
III. "Oh fie to you and shame to you, / You Little Serving Maid!
And are you not astonied?
And are you not afraid?
For never was it known / Since Yngelonde began / That a Little Serving Maid / Should go a-meeting of a man!"
IV. Then the Little Serving Maid / She went and laid her down, / With her cross and her bede, / In her new courting gown.
And she called in Mother Mary's name / And heavily she sighed: / "I think that I have come to shame! " / And after that she died.
V. The good Queen of England / Her women came and ran: / "The Little Serving Maid is dead / From loving of a man! " / Said the good Queen of England / "That is ill news to hear!
Take her out and shroud her, / And lay her on a bier."
VI. They laid her on a bier, / In the court-yard all; / Some came from Foresting, / And some came from Hall.
And Great Lords carried her, / And proud Priests prayed.
And that was the end / Of the Little Serving Maid.