Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts
"If this be for bonny Jeany Gordon,
This pennance I'll take wi'; 50
If this be bonny Jeany Gordon,
All this I will dree."
Lady Jean had not been married,
Not a year but three,
Till she had a babe in every arm, 55
Another upon her knee.
"O but I'm weary of wandering!
O but my fortune is bad!
It sets not the duke of Gordon's daughter
To follow a soldier lad. 60
"O but I'm weary of wandering!
O but I think lang!
It sets not the duke of Gordon's daughter,
To follow a single man."
When they came to the Highland hills, 65
Cold was the frost and snow;
Lady Jean's shoes they were all torn,
No farther could she go.
"O wo to the hills and the mountains!
Wo to the wind and the rain! 70
My feet is sore with going barefoot,
No further am I able to gang.
"Wo to the hills and the mountains!
Wo to the frost and the snow!
My feet is sore with going barefoot, 75
No farther am I able for to go.
"O! if I were at the glens of Foudlen,
Where hunting I have been,
I would find the way to bonny Castle-Gordon,
Without either stockings or shoon." 80
When she came to Castle-Gordon,
And down upon the green,
The porter gave out a loud shout,
"O yonder comes Lady Jean."
"O you are welcome, bonny Jeany Gordon, 85
You are dear welcome to me;
You are welcome, dear Jeany Gordon,
But away with your Captain Ogilvie."
Now over seas went the captain,
As a soldier under command; 90
A message soon followed after,
To come and heir his brother's land.
"Come home, you pretty Captain Ogilvie,
And heir your brother's land;
Come home, ye pretty Captain Ogilvie, 95
Be earl of Northumberland."
"O what does this mean?" says the captain;
"Where's my brother's children three?"
"They are dead and buried,
And the lands they are ready for thee." 100
"Then hoist up your sails, brave captain,
Let's be jovial and free;
I'll to Northumberland, and heir my estate,
Then my dear Jeany I'll see."
He soon came to Castle-Gordon, 105
And down upon the green;
The porter gave out with a loud shout,
"Here comes Captain Ogilvie."
"You're welcome, pretty Captain Ogilvie,
Your fortune's advanced I hear; 110
No stranger can come unto my gates,
That I do love so dear."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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