The Bailiff’s Daughter of
Islington by Anonymous
This love poem, describing the
true love between a squire’s son and a bailiff’s daughter must have been
written in Chaucer’s time.. Both the squire’s son and the bailiff’s daughter
lived in Islington.
The bailiff’s daughter was very shy, and she neither
believed that the squire’s son loved her nor showed her face to him. The
friends of the squire’s son understood his fond and foolish mind, and sent him
to London. Though he was there for seven long years, he never forgot his lady
love.
In the same way, the bailiff’s
daughter was always thinking about her lover. When all the maids of Islington
went to play, the bailiff’s daughter went secretly to London in search of her
lover. She put on ragged clothes, and went along the road in London when the
weather was hot and dry. Fortunately, she saw her lover, riding on a horse
along the road. Though she recognized him, he did not identify her. She asked
him for a penny, and he asked her about her native place. When she said that
she was from Islington, he enquired her if she knew the bailiff’s daughter of
Islington.
To test his love for her, the
bailiff’s daughter told that she was dead. Hearing that, the squire’s son was
shocked, and said that he would sell his fine horse, his saddle and his bow and
go to some far country where nobody knew him. Realizing his true love for her,
the bailiff’s daughter revealed that his lady love was not dead, but she was
alive, standing near him. She also expressed his readiness to be his bride.
Immediately, the squire’s son was filled with great joy to see his sweet heart,
and all his sorrows disappeared.
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