And naebody kens that he lies there "His hound is to the hunting gane, His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame, So we may mak our dinner sweet. "Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane, And I'll pike out his bonny blue e'en: 8 12 "We'll theek our nest when it grows bare. 16 'Mony a one for him makes mane, But nane sall ken whare he is gane: O'er his white banes, when they are bare, The wind sall blaw for evermair." Scott, Minst. Scot. Bord. 20 THE BRAES OF YARROW LATE at een, drinkin' the wine, They set a combat them between, "O stay at hame, my noble lord! O stay at hame, my marrow! 8 "O fare ye weel, my lady gay! O fare ye weel, my Sarah! Frae the dowie banks o' Yarrow." She kiss'd his cheek, she kaimed his hair, O he's gane up yon high, high hill- An' in a den spied nine arm'd men, "O are ye come to drink the wine, As ye hae doon before, O? 12 16 20 24 "I am no come to drink the wine, As I hae doon before, O, But I am come to wield the brand, Four he hurt, an' five he slew, On the dowie houms o' Yarrow, 28 Till that stubborn knight came him behind, An' ran his body thorrow. "Gae hame, gae hame, good brother John, An' tell your sister Sarah 32 To come an' lift her noble lord, Who's sleepin' sound on Yarrow." "Yestreen I dream'd a dolefu' dream; She gaed up yon high, high hill- She kiss'd his cheek, she kaimed his hair, She drank the red blood frae him ran, “O haud your tongue, my douchter dear, For what needs a' this sorrow? I'll wed you on a better lord Than him you lost on Yarrow." "O haud your tongue, my father dear, An' dinna grieve your Sarah; A better lord was never born Than him I lost on Yarrow. 36 40 44 48 52 56 "Tak hame your ousen, tak hame your kye, For they hae bred our sorrow; I wiss that they had a' gane mad Whan they cam first to Yarrow." Child, Pop. Bal., No. 214E. 60 THY BRAES WERE BONNY "THY braes were bonny, Yarrow stream, Thou art to me a stream of sorrow; For never on thy banks shall I Behold my Love, the flower of Yarrow. 8 "He promised me a milk-white steed To bear me to his father's bowers; He promised me a little page To 'squire me to his father's towers; He promised me a wedding-ring, The wedding-day was fix'd to-morrow ;Now he is wedded to his grave, Alas, his watery grave in Yarrow! "Sweet were his words when last we met; My passion I as freely told him; Clasp'd in his arms, I little thought 16 That I should never more behold him! Scarce was he gone, I saw his ghost; It vanish'd with a shriek of sorrow; Thrice did the water-wraith ascend, And gave a doleful groan thro' Yarrow. 24 "His mother from the window look'd With all the longing of a mother; His little sister weeping walk'd The green-wood path to meet her brother; They sought him east, they sought him west, They sought him all the forest thorough; They only saw the cloud of night, They only heard the roar of Yarrow. 32 "No longer from thy window look Thou hast no son, thou tender mother! No longer walk, thou lovely maid; Alas, thou hast no more a brother! No longer seek him east or west, And search no more the forest thorough; For, wandering in the night so dark, He fell a lifeless corse in Yarrow. "The tear shall never leave my cheek, No other youth shall be my marrowI'll seek thy body in the stream, 40 And then with thee I'll sleep in Yarrow." -The tear did never leave her cheek, No other youth became her marrow; And now with him she sleeps in Yarrow. 48 1781-2. John Logan. |