Ballads; Great Britain -- History; Scotland -- History
"Gae out, gae out, my merrymen a’,
And bid Carmichael come speak to me;
For I’ll lay my life the pledge o’ that,
That yon’s the shot o’ young Logie."
When Carmichael came before the King,
He fell low down upon his knee;
The very first word that the King spake,
Was—"Where’s the laird of young Logie?"
Carmichael turn’d him round about
(I wot the tear blinded his ee),
"There came a token frae your grace,
Has ta’en away the laird frae me."
"Hast thou play’d me that, Carmichael?
And hast thou play’d me that?" quoth he;
"The morn the justice-court’s to stand,
And Logie’s place ye maun supplie."
Carmichael’s awa to Margaret’s bower,
Even as fast as he may dree—
"O if young Logie be within,
Tell him to come and speak with me!"
May Margaret turn’d her round about
(I wot a loud laugh laughed she),
"The egg is chipp’d, the bird is flown,
Ye’ll see nae mair of young Logie."
*Chapter XXXVII*
*Jamie Telfer of the Fair Dodhead*
"’Tis I, Jamie Telfer, of the fair Dodhead,
And a harried man I think I be!
There’s nothing left at the fair Dodhead
But a woeful wife and bairnies three!"
About Martinmas time, when Border steeds get corn and hay, the Captain
of Bewcastle rode over to Tividale to forage. And first he met a guide
high up in Hardhaughswire, and next he met a guide low down in Borthwick
water.
"What tidings, what tidings, my trusty guide?" "No tidings have I—yet if
ye go to the fair Dodhead, I’ll let ye see many a cow’s calf." Right
hastily they came to the fair Dodhead, loosed the cows and ransacked the
house.
Jamie Telfer’s[#] heart was sore when he saw this, and the tears ran
down his cheeks, and he pleaded with the Captain to give him back his
gear, or else he would have revenge upon him. But the Captain only
laughed and said, "Man, there’s nothing in thy house but an old sword
without a sheath that could scarcely kill a mouse."
[#] The Telfers, though they had become Scotch at the time of this
ballad, were originally a Norman family, descended from the knight
"Taille-fer" (cut-iron), who came over with William the Conqueror.
The sun was not up though the moon had gone down, and there was a
sprinkling of new-fallen snow upon the ground when Jamie Telfer ran ten
miles a-foot between the Dodhead and Stob’s Hall. When he came to the
tower gate he shouted aloud, and old Gibby Elliot came out and asked the
meaning of such disturbance.
"It is I, Jamie Telfer, of the fair Dodhead, and a harried man am I, for
nothing is left at fair Dodhead but a sad wife and three bairnies."
"Go and seek help at Branksome Hall, for ye shall get none from me—seek
help where ye paid blackmail, for, man, never did ye pay _me_ any."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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