d home the child that he is gone.

7.
And when he came before his father,
He fell low down upon his knee,
'My blessing, father, I would ask,
If Christ would grant you would give it me.'

8.
'Now God thee bless, my son and my heir,
His servant in heaven that thou may be!
What tidings hast thou brought me, child,
Thou art comen home so soon to me?'

9.
'Good tidings, father, I have you brought,
Good tidings I hope it is to me;
The book is not in all Scotland,
But I can read it before your eye.'

10.
A joyed man his father was,
Even the worthy lord of Learne;
'Thou shalt go into France, my child,
The speeches of all strange lands to learn.'

11.
But then bespake the child his mother--
The lady of Learne and then was she--
Says, 'Who must be his well good guide,
When he goes into that strange country?'

12.
And then bespake that bonny child
Untill his father tenderly,
Says, 'Father, I'll have the hend steward,
For he hath been true to you and me.'

13.
The lady to counsel the steward did take,
And counted down a hundred pounds there,
Says, 'Steward, be true to my son and my heir,
And I will give thee mickle mere.'

14.
'If I be not true to my master,' he said,
'Christ himself be not true to me!
If I be not true to my lord and master,
An ill death that I may die!'

15.
The lord of Learne did apparel his child
With brooch, and ring, and many a thing;
The apparel he had his body upon,
They say was worth a squire's living.

16.
The parting of the young lord of Learne
With his father, his mother, his fellows dear,
Would have made a man's heart for to change,
If a Jew born that he were.

17.
The wind did serve, and they did sail
Over the sea into France land:
He used the child so hardly,
He would let him have never a penny to spend.

18.
And meat he would let the child have none,
Nor money to buy none truly;
The boy was hungry and thirsty both;
Alas! it was the more pity.

19.
He laid him down to drink the water
That was so low beneath the brim;
He was wont to have drunk both ale and wine,
Then was fain of the water so thin.

20.
And as he was drinking of the water
That ran so low beneath the brim,
So ready was the false steward
To drown the bonny boy therein.

21.
'Have mercy on me,