It was Goldilocks woke up in the morn
At the first of the shearing of the corn.

There stood his mother on the hearth
And of new-leased wheat was little dearth.

There stood his sisters by the quern,
For the high-noon cakes they needs must earn.

-O tell me Goldilocks my son,
Why hast thou coloured raiment on?�

-Why should I wear the hodden grey
When I am light of heart to-day?�

-O tell us, brother, why ye wear
In reaping-tide the scarlet gear?

Why hangeth the sharp sword at thy side
When through the land -tis the hook goes wide?�

-Gay-clad am I that men may know
The freeman-s son where-er I go.

The grinded sword at side I bear
Lest I the dastard-s word should hear.�

-O tell me Goldilocks my son,
Of whither away thou wilt be gone?�

-The morn is fair and the world is wide
And here no more will I abide.�

-O Brother, when wilt thou come again?�
-The autumn drought, and the winter rain,

The frost and the snow, and St. David-s wind,
All these that were time out of mind,

All these a many times shall be
Ere the Upland Town again I see.�

-O Goldilocks my son, farewell,
As thou wendest the world -twixt home and hell!�

-O brother Goldilocks, farewell,
Come back with a tale for men to tell!�

So -tis wellaway for Goldilocks,
As he left the land of the wheaten shocks.

He-s gotten him far from the Upland Town,
And he-s gone by Dale and he-s gone by Down.

He-s come to the wild-wood dark and drear,
Where never the bird-s song doth he hear.

He has slept in the moonless wood and dim
With never a voice to comfort him.

He has risen up under the little light
Where the noon is as dark as the summer night.

Six days therein has he walked alone
Till his scrip was bare and his meat was done.

On the seventh morn in the mirk, mirk wood,
He saw sight that he deemed was good.

It was as one sees a flower a-bloom
In the dusky heat of a shuttered room.

He deemed the fair thing far aloof,
And would go and put it to the proof.

But the very first step he made from the place
He met a maiden face to face.

Face to face, and so close was she
That their lips met soft and lovingly.

Sweet-mouthed she was, and fair he wist;
And again in the darksome wood they kissed.

Then first in the wood her voice he heard,
As sweet as the song of the summer bird.

-O thou fair man with the golden head,
What is the name of thee?� she said.

-My name is Goldilocks,� said he;
-O sweet-breathed, what is the name of thee?�

-O Goldilocks the Swain,� she said,
-My name is Goldilocks the Maid.�

He spake, -Love me as I love thee,
And Goldilocks one flesh shall be.�

She said, -Fair man, I wot not how
Thou lovest, but I love thee now.

But come a little hence away,
That I may see thee in the day.

For hereby is a wood-lawn clear
And good for awhile for us it were.�

Therewith she took him by the hand
And led him into the lighter land.

There on the grass they sat adown.
Clad she was in a kirtle brown.

In all the world was never maid
So fair, so evilly arrayed.

No shoes upon her feet she had
And scantly were her shoulders clad;

Through her brown kirtle-s rents full wide
Shone out the sleekness of her side.

An old scrip hung about her neck,
Nought of her raiment did she reck.

No shame of all her rents had she;
She gazed upon him eagerly.

She leaned across the grassy space
And put her hands about his face.

She said: -O hunger-pale art thou,
Yet shalt thou eat though I hunger now.�

She took him apples from her scrip,
She kissed him, cheek and chin and lip.

She took him cakes of woodland bread:
-Whiles am I hunger-pinched,� she said.

She had a gourd and a pilgrim shell;
She took him water from the well.

She stroked his breast and his scarlet gear;
She spake, -How brave thou art and dear!�

Her arms about him did she wind;
He felt her body dear and kind.

-O love,� she said, -now two are one,
And whither hence shall we be gone?�

-Shall we fare further than this wood,�
Quoth he, -I deem it dear and good?�

She shook her head, and laughed, and spake;
-Rise up! For thee, not me, I quake.

Had she been minded me to slay
Sure she had done it ere to-day.

But thou: this hour the crone shall know
That thou art come, her very foe.

No minute more on tidings wait,
Lest e-en this minute be too late.�

She led him from the sunlit green,
Going sweet-stately as a queen.

There in the dusky wood, and dim,
As forth they went, she spake to him:

-Fair man, few people have I seen
Amidst this world of woodland green:

But I would have thee tell me now
If there be many such as thou.�

-Betwixt the mountains and the sea,
O Sweet, be many such,� said he.

Athwart the glimmering air and dim
With wistful eyes she looked on him.

-But ne-er an one so shapely made
Mine eyes have looked upon,� she said.

He kissed her face, and cried in mirth:
-Where hast thou dwelt then on the earth?�

-Ever,� she said, -I dwell alone
With a hard-handed cruel crone.

And of this crone am I the thrall
To serve her still in bower and hall;

And fetch and carry in the wood,
And do whate-er she deemeth good.

But whiles a sort of folk there come
And seek my mistress at her home;

But such-like are they to behold
As make my very blood run cold.

Oft have I thought, if there be none
On earth save these, would all were done!

Forsooth, I knew it was nought so,
But that fairer folk on earth did grow.

But fain and full is the heart in me
To know that folk are like to thee.�

Then hand in hand they stood awhile
Till her tears rose up beneath his smile.

And he must fold her to his breast
To give her heart a while of rest.

Till sundered she and gazed about,
And bent her brows as one in doubt.

She spake: -The wood is growing thin,
Into the full light soon shall we win.

Now crouch we that we be not seen,
Under yon bramble-bushes green.�

Under the bramble-bush they lay
Betwixt the dusk and the open day.

-O Goldilocks my love, look forth
And let me know what thou seest of worth.�

He said: -I see a house of stone,
A castle excellently done.�

-Yea,� quoth she, -There doth the mistress dwell
What next thou seest shalt thou tell.�

-What lookest thou to see come forth?�
-Maybe a white bear of the North.�

-Then shall my sharp sword lock his mouth.�
-Nay,� she said, -or a worm of the South.�

-Then shall my sword his hot blood cool.�
-Nay, or a whelming poison-pool.�

-The trees its swelling flood shall stay,
And thrust its venomed lip away.�

-Nay, it may be a wild-fire flash
To burn thy lovely limbs to ash.�

-On mine own hallows shall I call,
And dead its flickering flame shall fall.�

-O Goldilocks my love, I fear
That ugly death shall seek us here.

Look forth, O Goldilocks my love,
That I thine hardy heart may prove.

What cometh down the stone-wrought stair
That leadeth up to the castle fair?�

-Adown the doorward stair of stone
There cometh a woman all alone.�

-Yea, that forsooth shall my mistress be:
O Goldilocks, what like is she?�

-O fair she is of her array,
As hitherward she wends her way.�

-Unlike her wont is that indeed:
Is she not foul beneath her weed?�

-O nay, nay! But most wondrous fair
Of all the women earth doth bear.�

-O Goldilocks, my heart, my heart!
Woe, woe! for now we drift apart.�

But up he sprang from the bramble-side,
And -O thou fairest one!� he cried:

And forth he ran that Queen to meet,
And fell before her gold-clad feet.

About his neck her arms she cast,
And into the fair-built house they passed.

And under the bramble-bushes lay
Unholpen, Goldilocks the may.