Corpus Christy Carol
Other titles or closely related songs: Looly, Looly Looly; Lulay, Lulay, Lulay; and variations
There are also numerous small variations of the lyrics. The ones I use are:
The hen flew east and the hen flew west
She bear her over the fair forest
She bear her up and she bear her down
She bear her over the heath so brown
She bear her over the meadows green
All to spy what might be seen
Looly, Looly, Looly
The faucon hath born my make [= mate] away.
And there she saw an orchard fair
Where growth many an apple and pear
And in that orchard standeth the hall
Covered all over with purple and pall
And in that hall there standeth the bower
Clad all over with pearly flowers
<Chorus>
And in that bower there standeth the bed
With silken sheets and quilts so red
And in that bed there lie’eth the knight
Whose wounds doth bleed by day and night
And ‘neath that bed there runeth a flood
It’s half of water and half of blood
<Chorus>
And by that bed there standeth the maid
She doth kneel by night and day
With silver needle and silken thread
Tending the wounds where they did bleed
And by that maid there standeth the stone
Corpus Christi was writ thereon
<Chorus X 2>
As far as I know, the earliest extant published version of this song dates from 1504, but its roots are surely much older. What exactly those roots are and the meaning and provenance of the various verses remains an ongoing inquiry. Aurthurian legends are one possibility. The falcon, in particular, is rich in possible meanings. Regardless of the details, this song is a good example of retrofitting an old folk song for use in convening a Christian message. Buddhism did the same thing with folk tales, most famously in the corpus of Japanese setsuwa 説話. Here the perpetually-bleeding knight is an allegory for Christ's sacrifice. The falcon, the bower, the maid, blood sacrifice--there are many interesting possibilities here with respect to pre-Christian themes and symbols.