33 He's taen a whip into his hand, And lashd them wondrous sair: Gae to your bowers, ye vile rank whores, Ye'se never see them mair. 34 Then out it speaks old Oxenford, A sorry man was he: 'Gang to your bowers, ye lily-flowers, For a' this maunna be.' 35 Out it speaks him hynde Henry: 'Come here, Janet, to me; Will ye gie me my faith and troth, And love, as I gae thee?' 36 'Ye shall hae your faith and troth, Wi God's blessing and mine;' And twenty times she kissd his mouth, Her father looking on. 37 Then out it speaks him gay Gilbert: 'Come here, Margaret, to me; Will ye gie me my faith and troth, And love, as I gae thee?' 38 'Yes, ye shall get your faith and troth, Wi God's blessing and mine;' And twenty times she kissd his mouth, Her father looking on. 39 'Ye'll take aff your twa black hats, Lay them down on a stone, That nane may ken that ye are clerks Till ye are putten down.' 40 The bonny clerks they died that morn, Their loves died lang ere noon; Their father and mother for sorrow died, They all died very soon. 41 These six souls went up to heaven, I wish sae may we a'! The mighty mayor went down to hell, For wrong justice and law. D Motherwell's MS., p. 433, from James Nicol, Strichen. 1 Oh I will tell a tale of woe, Which makes my heart richt sair; The Clerk's two sons of Oxenfoord Are too soon gone to lair. 2 They thought their father's service mean, Their mother's no great affair; But they would go to fair Berwick, To learn [some] unco lair. 3 They had not been in fair Berwick A twelve month and a day, Till the clerk's two sons of Oxenfoord With the mayor's two daughters lay. 4 This word came to the mighty mayor, As he hunted the rae, That the clerks two sons of Oxenfoord With his two daughters lay. 5 'If they have lain with my daughters, The heirs of all my land, I make a vow, and will keep it true, To hang them with my hand.' 6 When he was certain of the fact, An angry man was he, And he has taken these two brothers, And hanged them on the tree. 7 Word it has come to Oxenfoord's clerk, Ere it was many day, That his two sons sometime ago With the mayor's two daughters lay. 8 'O saddle a horse to me,' he cried, 'O do it quick and soon, That I may ride to fair Berwick, And see what can be done.' 9 But when he came to fair Berwick A grieved man was he, When that he saw his two bonnie sons Both hanging on the tree. 10 'O woe is me,' the clerk cried out, 'This dismal sight to see, All the whole comfort of my life Dead hanging on the tree!'