The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 2 (of 5)

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

6
    'O there's a bird intill your bowir
      That sings sae sad and sweet;
    O there's a bird intill your bour
      Kept me frae my nicht's sleep.'

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    7
    And she sware by the grass sae greene,
      Sae did she by the corn,
    That she had not seen Earl Richard
      Sen yesterday at morn.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *


H

        Dr Joseph Robertson's "Journal of Excursions," No 1, 1829.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    1
    'Hail well, hail well, my little foot-page,
      Hail well this deed on me,
    And ever I live my life to brook,
      I'se pay thee well thy fee.'

    2
    'It's we'l beet him, and we'l spur him,
      As gin he had been gain to ride,
    Put a huntin-horn about his neck,
      And a small sword by his side.

    3
    'And we'll carry him to Clyde's Water,
      And there we'll fling him in,
    That we may have it to be said
      In Clyde's Water he drownd.'

    4
    O they bet him, and they spurrd him,
      As gin he had been gain to ride,
    Pat a huntin-horn about his neck,
      But the sword on his wrang side.

    5
    And they hae carried him to Clyde's Water,
      And there they flang him in,
    That they might have it to be said
      In Clyde's Water he drowned.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    6
    'It's we'll sen for the king's doukers,
      And douk it up and doun;
    It's we'll sen for the king's doukers,
      And douk it out and in.'

    7
    Out it spak a little wee birdie,
      As it sat on yon burn-brae:
      .    .    .    .    .    .    .
        .    .    .    .    .    .    .

    8
    'Ye may lay by your day doukers,
      And turn you to the night,
    And where the innocent blood lies slain,
      The candles will burn fou bricht.'

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    9
    O they hae brunt that gay ladie,
      And blawn her in the air,
    And nothing o that bower-man would burn
      But the hands that buskd him rare.


I

        Motherwell MS., p. 189.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    1
    'Come down, come down, thou bonnie bird,
      Sit low upon my hand,
    And thy cage shall be o the beaten gowd,
      And not of hazel wand.'

    2
    'O woe, O woe be to thee, lady,
      And an ill death may thou die!
    For the way thou guided good Lord John,
      Soon, soon would thou guide me.'

    3
    'Go bend to me my bow,' she said,
      'And set it to my ee,
    And I will gar that bonnie bird
      Come quickly down to me.'

    4
    'Before thou bend thy bow, lady,
      And set it to thy ee,
    O I will be at yon far forest,
      Telling ill tales on thee.'

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *


J

        Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 42, 1802, and III, 184, 1833,
        from Herd's copies (#A#, #G#), and from tradition.

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

Opening the text

General

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 2 (of 5)

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

6
    'O there's a bird intill your bowir
      That sings sae sad and sweet;
    O there's a bird intill your bour
      Kept me frae my nicht's sleep.'

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    7
    And she sware by the grass sae greene,
      Sae did she by the corn,
    That she had not seen Earl Richard
      Sen yesterday at morn.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *


H

        Dr Joseph Robertson's "Journal of Excursions," No 1, 1829.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    1
    'Hail well, hail well, my little foot-page,
      Hail well this deed on me,
    And ever I live my life to brook,
      I'se pay thee well thy fee.'

    2
    'It's we'l beet him, and we'l spur him,
      As gin he had been gain to ride,
    Put a huntin-horn about his neck,
      And a small sword by his side.

    3
    'And we'll carry him to Clyde's Water,
      And there we'll fling him in,
    That we may have it to be said
      In Clyde's Water he drownd.'

    4
    O they bet him, and they spurrd him,
      As gin he had been gain to ride,
    Pat a huntin-horn about his neck,
      But the sword on his wrang side.

    5
    And they hae carried him to Clyde's Water,
      And there they flang him in,
    That they might have it to be said
      In Clyde's Water he drowned.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    6
    'It's we'll sen for the king's doukers,
      And douk it up and doun;
    It's we'll sen for the king's doukers,
      And douk it out and in.'

    7
    Out it spak a little wee birdie,
      As it sat on yon burn-brae:
      .    .    .    .    .    .    .
        .    .    .    .    .    .    .

    8
    'Ye may lay by your day doukers,
      And turn you to the night,
    And where the innocent blood lies slain,
      The candles will burn fou bricht.'

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    9
    O they hae brunt that gay ladie,
      And blawn her in the air,
    And nothing o that bower-man would burn
      But the hands that buskd him rare.


I

        Motherwell MS., p. 189.

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    1
    'Come down, come down, thou bonnie bird,
      Sit low upon my hand,
    And thy cage shall be o the beaten gowd,
      And not of hazel wand.'

    2
    'O woe, O woe be to thee, lady,
      And an ill death may thou die!
    For the way thou guided good Lord John,
      Soon, soon would thou guide me.'

    3
    'Go bend to me my bow,' she said,
      'And set it to my ee,
    And I will gar that bonnie bird
      Come quickly down to me.'

    4
    'Before thou bend thy bow, lady,
      And set it to thy ee,
    O I will be at yon far forest,
      Telling ill tales on thee.'

      *    *    *    *    *    *    *


J

        Scott's Minstrelsy, II, 42, 1802, and III, 184, 1833,
        from Herd's copies (#A#, #G#), and from tradition.

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

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 2 (of 5)

The English and Scottish popular ballads, volume 2 (of 5)

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