The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 1 (of 5)

Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts

15
    'O hold your tongue, my pretty parrot,
      Lay not the blame upon me;
    Your cup shall be of the flowered gold,
      Your cage of the root of the tree.'

    16
    Up then spake the king himself,
      In the bed-chamber where he lay:
    'What ails the pretty parrot,
      That prattles so long or day?'

    17
    'There came a cat to my cage door,
      It almost a worried me,
    And I was calling on May Colven
      To take the cat from me.'


D

        #a.# Sharpe's Ballad Book (1823), No 17, p. 45. #b.#
        Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 45. #c.#
        Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. 21, No. XXIV, one
        stanza.

    1
    O heard ye of a bloody knight,
      Lived in the south country?
    For he has betrayed eight ladies fair
      And drowned them in the sea.

    2
    Then next he went to May Collin,
      She was her father's heir,
    The greatest beauty in the land,
      I solemnly declare.

    3
    'I am a knight of wealth and might,
      Of townlands twenty-three;
    And you'll be lady of them all,
      If you will go with me.'

    4
    'Excuse me, then, Sir John,' she says;
      'To wed I am too young;
    Without I have my parents' leave,
      With you I darena gang.'

    5
    'Your parents' leave you soon shall have,
      In that they will agree;
    For I have made a solemn vow
      This night you'll go with me.'

    6
    From below his arm he pulled a charm,
      And stuck it in her sleeve,
    And he has made her go with him,
      Without her parents' leave.

    7
    Of gold and silver she has got
      With her twelve hundred pound,
    And the swiftest steed her father had
      She has taen to ride upon.

    8
    So privily they went along,
      They made no stop or stay,
    Till they came to the fatal place
      That they call Bunion Bay.

    9
    It being in a lonely place,
      And no house there was nigh,
    The fatal rocks were long and steep,
      And none could hear her cry.

    10
    'Light down,' he said, 'fair May Collin,
      Light down and speak with me,
    For here I've drowned eight ladies fair,
      And the ninth one you shall be.'

    11
    'Is this your bowers and lofty towers,
      So beautiful and gay?
    Or is it for my gold,' she said,
      'You take my life away?'

    12
    'Strip off,' he says, 'thy jewels fine,
      So costly and so brave,
    For they are too costly and too fine
      To throw in the sea wave.'

    13
    'Take all I have my life to save,
      O good Sir John, I pray;
    Let it neer be said you killed a maid
      Upon her wedding day.'

    14
    'Strip off,' he says, 'thy Holland smock,
      That's bordered with the lawn,
    For it's too costly and too fine
      To rot in the sea sand.'

    15
    'O turn about, Sir John,' she said,
      'Your back about to me,
    For it never was comely for a man
      A naked woman to see.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

General

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 1 (of 5)

Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts

15
    'O hold your tongue, my pretty parrot,
      Lay not the blame upon me;
    Your cup shall be of the flowered gold,
      Your cage of the root of the tree.'

    16
    Up then spake the king himself,
      In the bed-chamber where he lay:
    'What ails the pretty parrot,
      That prattles so long or day?'

    17
    'There came a cat to my cage door,
      It almost a worried me,
    And I was calling on May Colven
      To take the cat from me.'


D

        #a.# Sharpe's Ballad Book (1823), No 17, p. 45. #b.#
        Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 45. #c.#
        Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. 21, No. XXIV, one
        stanza.

    1
    O heard ye of a bloody knight,
      Lived in the south country?
    For he has betrayed eight ladies fair
      And drowned them in the sea.

    2
    Then next he went to May Collin,
      She was her father's heir,
    The greatest beauty in the land,
      I solemnly declare.

    3
    'I am a knight of wealth and might,
      Of townlands twenty-three;
    And you'll be lady of them all,
      If you will go with me.'

    4
    'Excuse me, then, Sir John,' she says;
      'To wed I am too young;
    Without I have my parents' leave,
      With you I darena gang.'

    5
    'Your parents' leave you soon shall have,
      In that they will agree;
    For I have made a solemn vow
      This night you'll go with me.'

    6
    From below his arm he pulled a charm,
      And stuck it in her sleeve,
    And he has made her go with him,
      Without her parents' leave.

    7
    Of gold and silver she has got
      With her twelve hundred pound,
    And the swiftest steed her father had
      She has taen to ride upon.

    8
    So privily they went along,
      They made no stop or stay,
    Till they came to the fatal place
      That they call Bunion Bay.

    9
    It being in a lonely place,
      And no house there was nigh,
    The fatal rocks were long and steep,
      And none could hear her cry.

    10
    'Light down,' he said, 'fair May Collin,
      Light down and speak with me,
    For here I've drowned eight ladies fair,
      And the ninth one you shall be.'

    11
    'Is this your bowers and lofty towers,
      So beautiful and gay?
    Or is it for my gold,' she said,
      'You take my life away?'

    12
    'Strip off,' he says, 'thy jewels fine,
      So costly and so brave,
    For they are too costly and too fine
      To throw in the sea wave.'

    13
    'Take all I have my life to save,
      O good Sir John, I pray;
    Let it neer be said you killed a maid
      Upon her wedding day.'

    14
    'Strip off,' he says, 'thy Holland smock,
      That's bordered with the lawn,
    For it's too costly and too fine
      To rot in the sea sand.'

    15
    'O turn about, Sir John,' she said,
      'Your back about to me,
    For it never was comely for a man
      A naked woman to see.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 1 (of 5)

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 1 (of 5)

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