Nay, Nay, Ivy!
Words and Music: English Traditional, Before 1536
See Notes under The Holly And The Ivy
Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), pp. 265-266.
1. Nay, nay, Ivy!
It may not be, ywis,
For Holly must have the mastery
As the manner is.
2. Holly beareth berries,
Berries red enough;
The throstlecock, the popinjay
Dance in every bough.
3. Welaway, sorry Ivy!
What fowls hast thou
But the sorry owlet
That singeth "How, how!"?
4. Ivy beareth berries
As black as any sloe,
Thee cometh the wood culver,
And feedeth her of tho;1
5. She lifteth up her tail
And she cakes ere she go;
She would not for an hundred pound
Serve Holly so.
6. Holly with his merry men
They can dance in hall;
Ivy and her gentle women
Cannot dance at all,
7. But like a meiny of bullocks
In a waterful,
Or on a hot summer's day
When they be mad all.
8. Holly and his merry men
Sit in chairs of gold;
Ivy and her gentle women
Sit without in fold,
9. With a pair of kibed2
Heels caught with cold;
So would I that every man had
That with Ivy will hold!
Notes from Rickert:
1. Them. Return
2. With chillblains. Return
