To buy her a new silk gown." "And what will I say to my sister dear, Gin she chance to say, Willy, where's John?" "Oh say that he's to England gone, To buy her a wedding ring." "But what shall I say to her you love dear, Gin she cry, why tarries my John?" "Oh tell her I lie in Kirkland fair, And home again will never come." THE LAIRD OF WARISTOUN |Down by yon garden green Sae merrily as she gaes; She has twa weel-made feet, And she trips upon her taes. She has twa weel-made feet; Far better is her hand; She's as jimp in the middle As ony willow-wand. "Gif ye will do my bidding, At my bidding for to be, It's I will make you lady Of a the lands you see." He spak a word in jest; Her answer wasna good; He threw a plate at her face, Made it a' gush out o' blood. She wasna frae her chamber A step but barely three, When up and at her right hand There stood Man's Enemy. "Gif ye will do my bidding, At my bidding for to be; I'll learn you a wile Avenged for to be." The Foul Thief knotted the tether; She lifted his head on high; The nourice drew the knot That gar'd lord Waristoun die. Then word is gane to Leith, Also to Edinburgh town, That the lady had kill'd the laird, The laird o' Waristoun. "Tak aff, tak aff my hood, But lat my petticoat be; Put my mantle o'er my head; For the fire I daurna see. "Now, a ye gentle maids, Tak warning now by me, And never marry ane But wha pleases your e'e. "For he married me for love, But I married him for fee; And sae brak out the feud That gar'd my deary die." YOUNG BEICHAN AND SUSIE [Illustration: 9126] |In London city was Beichan born, He longed strange countries for to see; But he was ta en by a savage Moor, Who handled him right cruelly; For through his shoulder he put a bore; And through the bore has putten a tree; And he's gar'd him draw the carts of wine Where horse and oxen had wont to be. He's casten [him] in a dungeon deep, Where he could neither hear nor see; He's shut him up in a prison strong, And he's handled him right cruelly. O this Moor he had but ae daughter, I wot her name was Susie Pye; She doen her to the prison house, And she's called young Beichan one word by. "O have ye any lands, or rents, Or cities in your own country, Could free you out of prison strong, And could maintain a lady free?" "O London city is my own, And other cities twa or three, Could loose me out of prison strong, And could maintain a lady free" O she has brib'd her father's men Wi' mickle gold and white money; She's gotten the keys of the prison door And she has set young Beichan free. (_bore_, hole. _tree_, pole. _free_, noble.) She's gi en him a loaf of good white bread,