English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II

Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts

"O wha will kame my yellow hair,                                   5
      With a new-made silver kame?
    And wha will father my young son,
      Till Lord Gregory come hame?"--

    "Thy father will shoe thy bonny foot,
      Thy mother will glove thy hand,                                 10
    Thy sister will lace thy middle jimp,
      Till Lord Gregory come to land.

    "Thy brother will kame thy yellow hair
      With a new-made silver kame,
    And God will be thy bairn's father                                15
      Till Lord Gregory come hame."--

    "But I will get a bonny boat,
      And I will sail the sea;
    And I will gang to Lord Gregory,
      Since he canna come hame to me."                                20

    Syne she's gar'd build a bonny boat,
      To sail the salt, salt sea;
    The sails were o' the light green silk,
      The tows o' taffety.

    She hadna sailed but twenty leagues,                              25
      But twenty leagues and three,
    When she met wi' a rank robber,
      And a' his company.

    "Now whether are ye the queen hersell,
      (For so ye weel might be,)                                      30
    Or are ye the Lass of Lochroyan,
      Seekin' Lord Gregory?"--

    "O I am neither the queen," she said,
      "Nor sic I seem to be;
    But I am the Lass of Lochroyan,                                   35
      Seekin' Lord Gregory."--

    "O see na thou yon bonny bower,
      It's a' cover'd o'er wi' tin?
    When thou hast sail'd it round about,
      Lord Gregory is within."                                        40

    And when she saw the stately tower
      Shining sae clear and bright,
    Whilk stood aboon the jawing wave,
      Built on a rock of height;

    Says--"Row the boat, my mariners,                                 45
      And bring me to the land!
    For yonder I see my love's castle
      Close by the salt-sea strand."

    She sail'd it round, and sail'd it round,
      And loud, loud cried she--                                      50
    "Now break, now break, ye fairy charms,
      And set my true love free!"

    She's ta'en her young son in her arms,
      And to the door she's gane;
    And long she knock'd, and sair she ca'd,                          55
      But answer got she nane.

    "O open the door, Lord Gregory!
      O open and let me in!
    For the wind blaws through my yellow hair,
      And the rain draps o'er my chin."--                             60

    "Awa, awa, ye ill woman!
      Ye're no come here for good!
    Ye're but some witch or wil warlock,
      Or mermaid o' the flood."--

    "I am neither witch, nor wil warlock,                             65
      Nor mermaid o' the sea;
    But I am Annie of Lochroyan;
      O open the door to me!"--

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II

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