The daughter agreed but told her mother, who prepared a sleeping draught and gave it to the knight. He drank it, and slept until the next morning. All night long the poor lass wept and sang at his bedside:
"Seven long years I served for you,
The glassy hill I climbed for you,
The blood-stained shirts I washed for you,
Will you not waken and turn to me?"
But the knight did not waken, and next day she did not know what to do. Then she remembered the pear, so she broke it, and she found it filled with jewelry richer than before. With these she bargained with the washerwoman's daughter to be a second night in the young knight's room. But the old wife gave him another sleeping draught, and he slept till morning. He did not hear the lass as she sat by his side all night and sang:
"Seven long years I served for you,
The glassy hill I climbed for you,
The blood-stained shirts I washed for you,
Will you not waken and turn to me?"
Still he slept, and she nearly lost hope. But that day, when he was out hunting, someone asked him what sad singing and moaning it was they had heard all night in his room. He had not heard a sound himself, but he made up his mind to keep awake this night.
The poor lass, between hope and despair, broke open her plum and it held the richest jewels of the three. She bargained with the washerwoman's daughter as before, and the old wife took the sleeping draught to the knight. But this time he said he wouldn't drink it without sweetening. While she went to fetch the honey, he poured out the drink, and then pretended he had already drunk it.
That night, when everyone was in bed, the young lass went to the knight's room and sat by his bed and sang:
"Seven long years I served for you,
The glassy hill I climbed for you,
The blood-stained shirts I washed for you,
Will you not waken and turn to me?"
The knight heard and turned to her. She told him all that had happened to her, and he told her all that had happened to him. After the washerwoman and her daughter had been punished, the knight and the lass were married and lived happily ever after. |
