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They prate and prattle pleasantly As they rode on the waye, To those that should their butchers be, And work their lives' decaye:

So that the pretty speeche they had, Made murderers' heart relent: And they that undertooke the deed, Full sore did now repent.

Yet one of them, more hard of heart, Did vow to do his charge, Because the wretch, that hired him, Had paid him very large.

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The other would not agree thereto, So here they fell to strife; With one another they did fight, About the children's life:

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And he that was of mildest mood, Did slaye the other there, Within an unfrequented wood, Where babes did quake for feare

[Ill.u.s.tration: AND HE THAT WAS OF MILDEST MOOD, DID SLAYE THE OTHER THERE.]

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He took the children by the hand, While teares stood in their eye, And bade them come and go with him, And look they did not crye:

And two long miles he ledd them on, While they for food complaine: "Stay here," quoth he, "I'll bring ye bread, When I come back againe."

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These prettye babes, with hand in hand, Went wandering up and downe;

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But never more they sawe the man Approaching from the town.

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Their prettye lippes with blackberries Were all besmear'd and dyed; And when they sawe the darksome night, They sat them downe and cryed.

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Thus wandered these two prettye babes, Till death did end their grief; In one another's armes they dyed, As babes wanting relief.

No burial these prettye babes Of any man receives,

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Till Robin-redbreast painfully Did cover them with leaves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN ONE ANOTHER'S ARMS THEY DYED]

THE THREE JOVIAL HUNTSMEN

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It's of three jovial huntsmen, an' a hunting they did go; An' they hunted, an' they hollo'd, an' they blew their horns also Look ye there!

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An' one said, "Mind yo'r e'en, an' keep yo'r noses reet i' th' wind An' then, by scent or seet, we'll leet o' summat to our mind."

Look ye there!

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They hunted, an' they hollo'd, an' the first thing they did find Was a tatter't boggart, in a field, an' that they left behind.

Look ye there!

One said it was a boggart, an' another he said "Nay; It's just a ge'man-farmer, that has gone an' lost his way."

Look ye there!

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They hunted, an' they hollo'd, an' the next thing they did find Was a gruntin', grindin' grindlestone, an' that they left behind.

Look ye there!

One said it was a grindlestone, another he said "Nay; It's nought but an' owd fossil cheese, that somebody's roll't away."

Look ye there!

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