Stealing a Girl
I was a thief the other night
in a state of graceless lust: I sought a girl.
The loveliest in the land caused me, thief of a girl,
4 to be extremely stealthy there.
A poet weak from lust for a fair maid,
woe the bold thief whose sleep is bewitched.
The way I got her (better than pure gold)
8 alas what trouble I had!
Having had wine and mead in their feast
the men and boys were as drunk as whey-drinkers,
I had a fine punishment [for them],
12 the pretty tender girl was a subject fit for praise.
Then they fell asleep,
making a great racket, the foolish lot,
noise of rampaging bears, like a discordant crowd,
16 a big gang like a herd of pigs.
The merchant was very careless.
They were all drunk as a result of this behaviour.
The girl with the white teeth wasn't drunk,
20 I'm no sluggard, she didn't drink at all.
If I was drunk (I'm used to battle
according to those who know) I was drunk on love.
Although the two gentle ones
24 put out the flaming wax candle,
long will this tale be told, poet of good family,
she of the colour of rushing foam didn't sleep.
My darling, I didn't sleep either
28 even though I was so drunk.
This was my intent, to get her
out of that awful den into the woods yonder.
Although it wasn't easy to get her
32 from her thin husband, bad-tempered man,
she of May's beauty, I managed to get her.
By the living image of Mary, I was no coward.
Her kinsmen didn't know
36 that she was there, she who lights her region like the moon.
Had they known they would have thought nothing
of chopping off my head because of the fine princess.
If the girl goes of her own accord
40 to carouse with them [again]
(her family, nasty lot,
will keep the girl from meeting her poet),
long will be the wait for her in the nightingale groves of the night,
44 as long as the sleep of Maelgwn.