A Lover and His Lass

(Spring Bouquets, wood engraving
by Gertrude Hermes, 1901-1993,
English wood engraver, sculptor,
and print maker)

From As You Like It, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy of young love and false identities.

A LOVER AND HIS LASS

In a part of the forest:

First page:

Shall we clap into’t roundly, without hawking
or spitting, or saying we are hoarse, which are the only
prologues to a bad voice?

Second page:

I’ faith, i’ faith, and both in a tune,
like two gypsies on a horse.

While the two pages dance around Touchstone, the clown, and his intended bride, Audrey, one of the pages sings this song:

It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o’er the green cornfield did pass,
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
Those pretty country folks would lie,
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwright