Then out it spake Lord John's mother, As she stood on the stair, 'I think I hear a woman groan, And a bairn greeting sair.' 32==#a# 33. ^1. O quickly, quickly raise he up. ^3. But hied him to the stable-door. _33, wanting in_ #a#. 'Now open the door, Bird Ellen,' he says, 'O open and let me in, Or baith the door and the door cheeks Into the floor I'll fling.' 34. He is struck the door wi his right foot And pushed it wi his knee, Till iron bolts and iron bars In flinders he has gard flee: 'Be not afraid, Bird Ellen,' he says, 'For there's nane win in but me.' _35, wanting in_ #a#. The never a word spake that ladie, As on the floor she lay, But hushd her young son in her arms And turnd his face away. 36==#a# 35. 'Now up ye take my bonny young son And wash him wi the milk, And up ye take my fair ladie, And row her i the silk.' _#a# 36 is wanting in #b#._ 37. 'And smile on me now, Bird Ellen, And cast awa your care, For I'll make you ladie of a' my lands, And your son shall be my heir.' 38. 'Blessd be the day,' sayd Bird Ellen, 'That I followd you frae the town, For I'd rather far be your foot-page Than the queen that wears the crown.' #C.# _The stanzas bracketed are those which Kinloch interpolated in his later copy._ _27, 31, 32, were derived from #D#._ 22^1. _In his later copy Kinloch has made the change_, Win up, win up, my bonnie boy. #E.# 20^4. Or lyin: _see_ #G# 14. #G.# 22^6. Aye. #H.# 5^4. _This line is included in () in the MS., and was probably supplied by Motherwell._ #I.# 3^3, 4^3, 6^3. sichan: _MS._ "sich an, perhaps sichin." #J.# _4^3 seems to be a corruption of ~I forbid you leave your families~, or something of the kind: cf. #B a# 1^{1, 3}._ 10^1. _The knight seems to be ~lack~ (wanting) rather in ~not~ bidding, or letting, her ride; his lack is nothing but his leave; but as the idea may conceivably be that it would be unknightly to ride with a lady behind--all ballads to the contrary--no emendation has been attempted._ 21^3. five foot page.