Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
"Throw down the ba', ye Jew's daughter,
Throw down the ba' to me!"
"Never a bit," says the Jew's daughter, 15
"Till up to me come ye."
"How will I come up? How can I come up?
How can I come to thee?
For as ye did to my auld father,
The same ye'll do to me." 20
She's gane till her father's garden,
And pu'd an apple, red and green;
'Twas a' to wyle him, sweet Sir Hugh,
And to entice him in.
She's led him in through ae dark door, 25
And sae has she thro' nine;
She's laid him on a dressing table,
And stickit him like a swine.
And first came out the thick, thick blood,
And syne came out the thin; 30
And syne came out the bonny heart's blood;
There was nae mair within.
She's row'd him in a cake o' lead,
Bade him lie still and sleep;
She's thrown him in Our Lady's draw well, 35
Was fifty fathom deep.
When bells were rung, and mass was sung,
And a' the bairns came hame,
When every lady gat hame her son,
The Lady Maisry gat nane. 40
She's ta'en her mantle her about,
Her coffer by the hand;
And she's gane out to seek her son,
And wander'd o'er the land.
She's doen her to the Jew's castell, 45
Where a' were fast asleep;
"Gin ye be there, my sweet Sir Hugh,
I pray you to me speak."
She's doen her to the Jew's garden,
Thought he had been gathering fruit; 50
"Gin ye be there, my sweet Sir Hugh,
I pray you to me speak."
She near'd Our Lady's deep draw-well,
Was fifty fathom deep;
"Whare'er ye be, my sweet Sir Hugh, 55
I pray you to me speak."
"Gae hame, gae hame, my mither dear;
Prepare my winding sheet;
And, at the back o' merry Lincoln,
The morn I will you meet." 60
Now Lady Maisry is gane hame;
Made him a winding sheet;
And, at the back o' merry Lincoln,
The dead corpse did her meet.
And a' the bells o' merry Lincoln, 65
Without men's hands were rung;
And a' the books o' merry Lincoln,
Were read without man's tongue;
And ne'er was such a burial
Sin Adam's days begun. 70
SIR HUGH.
From Herd's _Scottish Songs_, i. 157.
A' the boys of merry Linkim
War playing at the ba',
An up it stands him sweet Sir Hugh,
The flower among them a'.
He keppit the ba' than wi' his foot, 5
And catcht it wi' his knee,
And even in at the Jew's window,
He gart the bonny ba' flee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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