Should streak down by my side." When day was come, and night was gane, And the sun shone thro' the ha, The fairest lady that ever was seen Lay atween him and the wa'. "O weel is me!" says King Henry; "How lang'll this last wi' me?" And out and spake that lady fair,-- "E en till the day you die. "For I was witched to a ghastly shape, All by my stepdame's skill, Till I should meet wi' a curteous knight, Would gie me a' my will." (_streak_, stretch, lie.) WILLY'S LADY [0048] |Willy's ta en him oer the faem, Hes wooed a wife, and brought her hame; Hes wooed her for her yellow hair, But his mother wrought her mickle care; And mickle dolour gar'd her dree, For lighter she can never be; But in her bower she sits wi' pain, And Willy mourns oer her in vain. And to his mother he has gane, That vile rank witch, o' vilest kind! He says--"My lady has a cup, Wi' gowd and silver set about; This goodly gift shall be your ain, And let her be lighter o' her young bairn."-- (_faem,_ sea. _dree,_ suffer.) "Of her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bower to shine the brighter: But she shall die, and turn to clay, And you shall wed another may."-- "Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll ne'er bring hame:"-- But, sighing, says that weary wight-- "I wish my life were at an end!" "Yet do ye unto your mother again, That vile rank witch, o' vilest kind! And say, your lady has a steed, The like o' him's no in the land o' Leed. "For he is golden shod before, And he is golden shod behind; At ilka tett of that horse's mane, There's a golden chess, and a bell to ring. This goodly gift shall be your ain, And let me be lighter o' my young bairn."-- "Of her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bower to shine the brighter; But she shall die, and turn to clay, And ye shall wed another may."-- "Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll ne'er bring hame:"-- (_tett_, tuft.) Willy's Lady 15 But, sighing, said that weary wight-- "I wish my life were at an end!"-- "Yet do ye unto your mother again, That vile rank witch, o' vilest kind! And say your lady has a girdle, It's of red gowd unto the middle; "And aye, at every siller hem Hang fifty siller bells and ten; That goodly gift [shall] be her ain, And let me be lighter o' my young bairn."-- "Of her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bower to shine the brighter; For she shall die, and turn to clay, And you shall wed another may."-- "Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll ne'er bring hame:"-- But, sighing, said that weary wight-- "I wish my days were at an end!"-- Then out and spake the Billy Blind, (He spake aye in good time:) "Ye do ye to the market-place, And there ye buy a loaf of wax; Ye shape it bairn and bairnly like, And in it twa glassen een ye put; "And bid her come to your boy's christening, Then notice weel what she shall do;