Oh, Johnny rose on a May morning, called for water to wash his hands,
Says "Bring to me my two grey dogs, lay bound in iron bands."
When Johnny's mother she heard of this, she wrung her hands full sore,
Says "Johnny, for your venison to the green woods do not go."
"For there are seven foresters in Esselment, and this you know full well,
For one small drop of your heart's blood they would ride to the gates of Hell."
"Oh, there's many men are my friends, Mother, Though many more are my foe.
And betide me well or betide me ill, A-hunting I will go."
So Johnny has taken his good bent bow, his arrows one by one,
And he's away to Mony Musk for to bring the dun deer down.
Oh, Johnny shot and the dun deer lept, he's wounded her in the side.
And between the water and the woods, the two dogs laid her pride.
And they ate so much of the venison, they drank so much of the blood,
That Johnny and his two grey dogs fell asleep as if they had been dead.
And by there came a sly old man, a sly old man was he,
And he's away to Esselment for to tell on young Johnny.
"As I came in by Mony Musk, and down among yon scroggs,
It was there I spied the bonniest dude lying sleeping between two dogs."
"And the buttons that were on his coat were of the gold so good,
And the two grey dogs that he lay between, their mouths they were died
With blood."
And up and spoke the first forester, he was headsman over them all,
"Can this be Johnny of Brady's Lea? Unto him we will crawl."
And the very first shot that the foresters fired, it wounded him in the thigh,
And the very next shot that the foresters fired, his heart's blood blinded
Then up woke Johnny from out of his sleep, an angry man was he.
He says "The wildest wolf in all this wood would not have done so by me."
And he's leaned his back against an oak, his foot against a stone,
And he has fired on the seven foresters, he's killed them all but one.
And he's broken seven of this man's ribs, his arm and his collarbone,
And he has set him on to his horse, to bring the tidings home.
Johnny's good bent bow is broke, and his two grey dogs are slain,
And his body lies in Mony Musk, and his hunting days are done.