Up then spake the pretty parrot, In the bonnie cage where it lay: 'O what hae ye done with the false Sir John, That he behind you does stay?' 15^{3, 4} 'Your cage will be made of the beaten gold, And the spakes of ivorie.' 17^{1, 2} 'It was a cat cam ... I thought 't would have' ... #D a.# 2^1. Colin. #b#. _Buchan's copy makes many slight changes which are not noticed here._ 1^2. west countrie. _After 1 is inserted:_ All ladies of a gude account As ever yet were known; This traitor was a baron knight, They calld him fause Sir John. _After 2:_ 'Thou art the darling of my heart, I say, fair May Colvin, So far excells thy beauties great That ever I hae seen.' 3^2. Hae towers, towns twenty three. 7^2. five hunder. 7^3. The best an steed. 8^3. fatal end. 8^4. Binyan's Bay. 12^2. rich and rare. 12^4. sea ware. _After 12:_ Then aff she's taen her jewels fine, And thus she made her moan: 'Hae mercy on a virgin young, I pray you, gude Sir John.' 'Cast aff, cast aff, fair May Colvin, Your gown and petticoat, For they're too costly and too fine To rot by the sea rock.' 13^4. Before her. 14^4. to toss. 18^3. her steed. 23^3. What hast thou made o fause. 28^3. Charlestown sands. _Sharps thinks Carline Sands means Carlinseugh Sands on the coast of Forfarshire._ _After 30:_ Ye ladies a', wherever you be, That read this mournful song, I pray you mind on May Colvin, And think on fause Sir John. Aff they've taen his jewels fine, To keep in memory; And sae I end my mournful sang And fatal tragedy. #c.# _Motherwell's one stanza is:_ O heard ye eer o a bloody knight That livd in the west countrie? For he has stown seven ladies fair, And drownd them a' in the sea. #E.# 3^2. of the. 17^2. But so. [24] 'The Elfin Knight' begins very much like #A#, but perhaps has borrowed its opening stanzas from this ballad. See page 13. [25] The second stanza, which describes the harping, occurs again in 'Glenkindie' (st. 6).