Lyrics
Translation

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.