Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
Famous Flower of Serving Men 
(alternate:) 
Famous Flower of Serving Men 
I was by birth a lady fair My father's chief and only heir But when my good old father died Then I was made a young knight's bride 
And then my love built me a bower Bedecked with many a fragrant flower A braver bower you never did see Than my true love did build for me 
Although I got married to this knight My stepmother did me deadly spite For she sent thieves in the dark of night To rob my bower and slay my knight 
They couldn't do to me no harm So they slew my knight in my arms Left me naught to wrap him then But the bloody sheet that he lay in 
My servants all from me did flee In the midst of my extremity And left me by myself alone With a heart more cold than any stone 
Twas all alone I dug his grave And all alone in it him I laid While Christ was priest and I was clerk I laid my love in the cold clay earth 
And all alone the bell I rang And all alone this song I sang I leaned my head all against a block And there I cut my lovely locks 
No living man I'll love again Since that my lovely knight is slain With a lock of his yellow hair I'll chain my heart for ever more 
I cut my locks and I changed my name From Fair Eleanor to Sweet William I went to court to serve my king As the famous flower of serving men 
So well I served my lord, the king That he made me his chamberlain He loved me as his son The famous flower of serving men 
Oh oft time he'd look at me and smile So swift his heart I did beguile And he blessed the day that I became The famous flower of serving men 
But all alone in my bed at e'en Oh there I dreamed a dreadful dream I saw my bed swim with blood And I saw the thieves all around my head 
Our king has to the hunting gone He's ta'en the lords, the gentlemen He's left me there to guard his home The famous flower of serving men 
Our king he rode the wood all around He stayed all day but nothing found And as he rode himself alone It's there he saw the milk white hind 
Oh the hind she broke, the hind she flew The hind she trampled the brambles through First she'd mount and then she'd sound Sometimes before, sometimes behind 
Oh what is this, how can it be? Such a hind as this I ne'er did see Such a hind as this was never born I fear she'll do me dreadful harm 
And long, long did the great horse turn For to save his lord from branch and thorn But long e'er the day was o'er It tangled off in his yellow hair 
All in the glade the hind drew nigh And the sun grew bright all in their eye And he sprang down, sword he drew 
She vanished there all from his view 
And all around the grass was green And all around there a grave was seen And he sat himself all on the stone Great weariness it seized him on 
Great silence hung from tree to sky The woods grew still, the sun on fire As through the woods the dove he came As through the wood he made his moan 
The dove, he sat down on the stone So sweet he looked, so sweet he sang "Alas the day my love became The famous flower of serving men" 
The bloody tears they fell like rain As still he sat and still he sang "Alas the day my love became The famous flower of serving men" 
Our king cried out, then he wept full sore He beat his breast and tore his hair So loud unto the dove he did call "Oh pretty bird, come sing it plain" 
"Oh it was her stepmother's deadly spite For she sent thieves in the dark of night They came to rob, they came to slay They made their sport, they went their way 
"And don't you think that her heart was sore As she laid the mold on his yellow head And don't you think that her hear was woe As she turned her back away to go 
"And how she wept as she changed her name From Fair Eleanor to Sweet William Went to court to serve her king As the famous flower of serving men" 
Oh the bloody tears they lay all around He's mounted up and away he's gone And one thought came to his mind He'd thought the servant was a man 
And as he rode himself alone A dreadful oath he there has sworn 
That he would hunt her stepmother down As he would hunt the wildwood swine 
For there's four and twenty ladies all And they're all playing at the ball But fairer than all of them Is the famous flower of serving men 
Oh he's rode him into his hall And he's rode in among them all He's lifted her to his saddle brim And there he's kissed her cheek and chin 
His nobles stood and they stretched their eyes The ladies took to their fans and smiled For such a strange homecoming No gentleman had ever seen 
And he has sent his nobles all Unto her mother they have gone They've ta'en her that 's done such wrong They've laid her down in prison strong 
And he's brought men out from the corn And he's sent men down to the thorn All for to build the bonfire high All for to set her mother by 
All bonnie sang the morning thrush All there he sat in yonder bush But louder did her mother cry In the bonfire where she was burned close by 
For there she stood all among the thorn And there she sang her deadly song "Alas the day that she became The famous flower of serving men" 
For the fire took first all on her cheek And then it took all on her chin It spat and rang in her yellow hair And soon there was no life left in 
And then for fear of any strife He took Sweet William for his wife The like before was never seen A servant man became a queen 
Child #106 
compiled from several sources, mainly Carthy's as printed in Singout, supplemented with Child and Bronson versions recorded by Martin Carty and Lisa Null