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1 Oh, well I wot where the greenwood grows
That standeth beside the firth,
For in it there blow the fairest trees
That a man may see on earth.
2 Therein do the willow and linden grow,
The fairest a man may find,
And under them play the lordly beasts
That men call hart and hind.
3 Therein they sport, both hind and hart,
And all beasts of the fair forest,
And there plays she, the lily-white hind,
With gold beneath her breast.
4 It was Nilus Erlandson
Rode forth the deer to take,
And there he saw the lily-white hind
That ran through bush and brake.
So the knight hath won his lady.
5 He chased her, Nilus Erlandson,
That longed for her so sore,
But swift was she, and still did flee
For three days' space and more.
6 Now snares he set in every path
Where'er a beast might go,
But all so wise was the lily-white hind
That he could not take her so.
7 Sir Nilus all through the greenwood
Rode on, and rode in vain;
His hounds loosed he by two, by three,
To run her down amain.
8 Now can she spy no way to fly,
So hot the hounds pursue,
Her shape she changed to a falcon fierce,
And aloft in the air she flew.
9 Her shape she changed to a falcon fleet,
And perched on a linden green,
All under the boughs Sir Nilus stood,
And sighed for toil and tene.
10 Sir Nilus hath ta'en his axe in hand
To fell the linden-tree,
When forth there sprang a forester
That smote the shaft in three.
11 "And wilt thou fell my father's wood
And all to do me wrong,
I promise thee, Nilus Erlandson,
That thou shalt rue it long!"
12 "Now let me fell this single tree,
This tree alone of thine,
For but I can take the falcon fell
I die of dule and pine!"
13 "Now hark and heed, thou fair young knight,
The counsel that I bring,
Ne'er shalt thou take her till she taste
The flesh of a tamèd thing!"
14 A gobbet he cut from his bleeding breast,
Right bitter pain he knew,
She flapped her wings and down she dropped,
And on the bait she flew.
15 She flapped her wings and down she flew,
And on the bait she fell,
And she changed her shape to the fairest maid
That ever a tongue might tell.
16 She stood in a sark of silk so red
Where the linden-tree did blow,
And all in the arms of Sir Nilus
She told her weird of woe.
17 "Oh, I sat and broidered lily and rose
My father's board beside,
When in she came, my false stepdame,
Whose wrath was ill to bide.
18 "She shaped me all to a lily-white hind
To run in wild greenwood
And my seven maidens to seven grey wolves,
And bade them drink my blood."
19 The damsel stood 'neath the linden-tree,
And loosened her golden hair,
And thither came they that erst were wolves,
But now were maidens fair.
20 "Now thanks to thee, Nilus Erlandson!
Hast saved me from hurt and harm,
Never shalt thou seek slumber
But on my lily-white arm.
21 "Now thanks to thee, Nilus Erlandson,
Hast set my sorrow to rest!
Never shalt thou seek slumber
But on my lily-white breast."