Of a maiden they are telling,
At Saint-Martin she was dwelling;
To a rich-man she was wed,
And the young bride lived in dread.

Her mother-in-law was wicked,
Oh, she was very wicked!
She said every day of her wicked life:
" My son, when will you kill your wife? "

" Be patient, O my mother!
Be patient, my dear mother!
Till Sunday come again, be still,
And Sunday you shall have your will. "

The fair bride goes a-weeping
To her father for safe-keeping;
She tells him how in dread and fright
She lives in peril day and night.

" O father! O my father!
My dearest, dearest father,
You have made me a cruel rich-man's wife,
And I know that he will take my life. "

" Go back now, my good daughter,
Go home, my little daughter;
On Sunday or Monday of the week,
To your husband I will surely speak. "

And so the sorrowful little bride
Goes home to her own fireside;
On her bed, too tired to weep,
She lies, and quickly falls asleep.

Suddenly her husband stands
At her bedside and commands:
" Fair bride, put on your skirts of white;
We two ride through the fields to-night. "

He does not wait for a reply,
To mount her on his saddle high:
" Fair bride, hold fast, " he cries to her:
" Hold hard, for I shall use the spur. "

Thus he gallops at full speed,
Nor draws the rein upon his steed
Till they have come to a wheat field
Where his bright sword lies concealed.

" If you will murder me, at least
Go and find for me a priest;
That I may confess, and he
May absolve and pardon me. "

" Not a priest can I afford,
But the bright point of my sword;
Your confession it will take,
And my dagger short shrift make. "

Home again as he will ride,
He meets the brother of his bride:
" Where have you been? " her brother said;
" Your shoes are covered all with red. "

" I am riding from the chase,
Where I killed woodcock, many a brace;
So many white hares I left dead,
My shoes with blood are covered red. "

" Brother-in-law, you lie, " he cried;
" It is not white hares that have died;
By your pale cheeks, I see too plain
It is my sister you have slain. "

He has gone to tell the court:
" Justice, let his days be short;
Hang him on the gallows grim,
Hang his mother after him. "