Therefore most sorrowful it was those children small to see

Therefore most sorrowful it was those children small to see, Most sorrowful to hear them plead for their pet so piteously;— “Oh! mother dear, it loveth us; and what beside have we?

“Let’s take him to the broad, green hills,” in his impotent despair, Said one strong boy, “let’s take him off, the hills are wide and fair; I know a little hiding-place, and we will keep him there!”

’Twas vain!—they took the little lamb, and straightway tied him down, With a strong cord they tied him fast;—and o’er the common brown, And o’er the hot and flinty roads, they took him to the town.