For there she got the bonny lad lost, Wi' the curly locks and the yellow hair. He put his foot into the boat, He little thought o' ony ill: But before that he was mid-waters, The weary coble began to fill. "Woe be to the lass o' Balathy toun, I wot an ill death may she die; For she bored the coble in seven parts, And let the waters perish me! (_strae_, straw.) "O help, O help I can get nane, Nae help o' man can to me come!" This was about his dying words, When he was choked up to the chin. "Gae tell my father and my mother, It was naebody did me this ill; I was a-going my ain errands, Lost at the coble o' bonny Cargill." She bored the boat in seven parts, I wot she bored it wi' gude will; And there they got the bonny lad's corpse, In the kirk-shot o' bonny Cargill. O a' the keys of bonny Stobha', I wot they at his belt did hing; But a the keys of bonny Stobha, They now lie low into the stream. A braver page into his age Ne er set a foot upon the plain; His' father to his mother said, "O sae soon as we've wanted him!" I wot they had mair love than this, When they were young and at the school; But for his sake she walked late, And bored the coble o' bonny Cargill. (_shot_, plot of land.) "There's ne'er a clean sark gae on my back, Nor yet a kame gae in my hair; There's neither coal nor candle light Shall shine in my bower for ever mair. "At kirk nor market I'se ne'er be at, Nor yet a blithe blink in my ee; There's ne'er a ane shall say to another, That's the lassie gar'd the young man die." Between the yetts o' bonny Stobha', And the kirkstyle o' bonny Cargill, There is mony a man and mother's son That was at my love's burial. JOHN THOMSON AND THE TURK |John Thomson fought against the Turks Three years, intill a far country; And all that time, and something mair, Was absent from his gay lady. But it fell aince upon a time, As this young chieftain sat alane, He spied his lady in rich array, As she walk'd ower a rural plain. "What brought ye here, my lady gay, So far awa' from your ain country? I've thought lang, and very lang, And all for your fair face to see." For some days she did with him stay, Till it fell aince upon a day, "Fareweel, for a time," she said, "For now I must boun hame away." He's gi en to her a jewel fine, Was set with pearl and precious stane; Says, "My love, beware of these savages bold That's in your way as ye gang hame. "Ye'll take the road, my lady fair, That leads you fair across the lea: That keeps you from wild Hind Soldan, And likewise from base Violentrie." Wi' heavy heart they twa did part, She mintet as she would gae hame; Hind Soldan by the Greeks was slain, But to base Violentrie she's gane.