Page:Ludus Coventriae (1841).djvu/184

Here wyttys deve,
Here hedys cleve,
            And schedyn here blood.

Primus rex. Heyl be thou kynge in kage ful hye,
Heyl, we nyghe thin halle ryght nye!
Knowyst thou ought that chylde slye
            He is born here abowth?
He is born of a mayd ȝynge,
He xal be kynge over every kynge,
We go to seke that lovely thynge,—
            To hym ffayn wolde I lowth.

Secundus rex. Balaam spake in prophecye,
A sterre xulde ful lovelye
Lythtyn upon mayd Marye,
            Comyn of Jacobys kynne.
The childe is born, and lythe here by,
Blomyd in a madenys body,
A sterre hath strekyn upon the sky
            And ledde us fayr be fenne.

Tertius rex. The sterre hath ledde us out of the Est,
To seke a baroun born best;
He xal be kynge of myghtes mest,
            As prophecy gynnyth spelle.
We be kynges in wey wery;
Syr kynge, ffor thi curtesy,
Telle us to that childe so lovely,
            In what towne gynnyth he dwelle.

Herodes rex. [Gh]e thre kynges rekenyd be rowe,
Ley now downe ȝour wurdys lowe,
Suche a carpynge is unknowe,
            Onrekenyd in my regne.