Up then spake the Queen o’ Fairies, Out o’ a bush o’ broom— “She that has borrow’d young Tamlane, Has gotten a stately groom.”— Up then spake the Queen o’ Fairies, Out o’ a bush o’ rye— “She’s ta’en away the bonniest knight In a’ my companie. “But had I kenn’d, Tamlane,” she says, “A lady wad borrow’d thee— I wad ta’en out thy twa grey e’en, Put in twa e’en o’ tree. “Had I but kenn’d, Tamlane,” she says, “Before ye came frae hame— I wad ta’en out your heart o’ flesh, Put in a heart o’ stane. “Had I but had the wit yestreen That I hae coft the day— I’d paid my kanes seven times to hell Ere you’d been won away!” OLD BALLAD. THE BROWNIE OF BLEDNOCH. There came a strange wight to our town-en’, An’ the fient a body did him ken; He tirled na lang, but he glided ben Wi’ a dreary, dreary hum. His face did glow like the glow o’ the west, When the drumly cloud has it half o’ercast; Or the struggling moon when she’s sair distrest, O sirs, ’twas Aiken-drum. I trow the bauldest stood aback, Wi’ a gape an’ a glower till their lugs did crack, As the shapeless phantom mum’ling spak— “Hae ye wark for Aiken-drum!” Oh, had ye seen the bairns’s fright, As they stared at this wild and unyirthly wight; As they skulkit in ’tween the dark and the light, And graned out, “Aiken-drum!” The black dog, growling, cowered his tail, The lassie swarfed, loot fa’ the pail; Rob’s lingle brak as he mendit the flail, At the sight o’ Aiken-drum. His matted head on his breast did rest, A lang blue beard wan’ered down like a vest; But the glare o’ his ee hath nae bard exprest, Nor the skimes o’ Aiken-drum. Roun’ his hairy form there was naething seen But a philabeg o’ the rashes green, An’ his knotted knees played aye knoit between— What a sight was Aiken-drum! On his wauchie arms three claws did meet, As they trailed on the grun’ by his taeless feet; E’en the old gudeman himsel’ did sweat To look at Aiken-drum. But he drew a score, himsel’ did sain; The auld wife tried, but her tongue was gane; While the young one closer clasped her wean, And turned frae Aiken-drum. But the canty auld wife cam till her breath, And she thocht the Bible might ward aff scaith, Be it benshee, bogle, ghaist, or wraith— But it feared na Aiken-drum. “His presence protect us!” quoth the old gudeman; “What wad ye, whare won ye, by sea or by lan’? I conjure ye, speak, by the beuk in my han’!” What a grane gae Aiken-drum! “I lived in a lan’ where we saw nae sky, I dwelt in a spot where a burn rins na by; But I’se dwall now wi’ you if ye like to try— Hae ye wark for Aiken-drum?