wriggle in the grass. However, the knight Jennus comes:
It was the brave knight Jennus;
Forth to the greenwood he hies.
As o'er the grass he rideth,
A little snake he espies.
It was the brave knight Jennus;
Over his saddle he lay.
He kissed the little serpent;
A maiden it turned straightway.
It was the brave knight Jennus;
Troth to the maid he did plight.
He bade them keep his wedding
For both with much delight.
In another ballad the maiden has been turned by her stepmother into a lime-tree, and makes her moan:
She changed me into a lime-tree, and
She bade me e'en in the greenwood stand.
She bade me stand and hope for no bote,
Until a king's son should kiss my root.
Here have I tarried for years full five,
Nor kissed me has any king's son alive.
Here have I tarried for years now ten,
Nor has a king's son kissed me since then.
But at last the hour of her freedom arrives;