24 'Ye've been brunt sare anent the sun, And rocket i the reek; And tho ye wad wash till doom's day, Ye wad never be so white.' 25 'If this be Annie, your first fore love, Come our weddin to see, She has by far owr brent a brow To lat ye bide by me.' 26 When bells were rung, and mass was sung, And a' men bun to bed, Sweet Willie and his nut-brown bride In ae chamber were laid. 27 The hedna weel layn down, layn down, But nor hed fallen asleep, When up and started Fair Annie, And stud at Willie's feet. 28 'Vo be to you, nut-brown bride, Wi yer oxen and your sheep! It is Annie, my first fore love, And I fear sair she is dead. 29 'Vo be te you, nut-brown bride, An ill death you betide! For you've parted me and my first fore love, And I fear death is her guide. 30 'You'll seddle to me the black, the black, You'll seddle to me the brown, Till I ride on to Annie's bower And see how she is bune.' 31 When he came to Fair Annie's bower, And lighted and gaed in, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Her father was at her heed, her heed, Her mother at her feet, Her sister she was at her side, Puttin on her winding sheet. 33 'It's kiss will I yer cheek, Annie, And kiss will I your chin, And I will kiss your wan, wan lips, Tho there be no breath within. 34 'Ye birl, ye birle at my luve's wake The white bread and the wine, And or the morn at this same time Ye'll birle the same at mine.' 35 They birled, they birled at Annies wake The white bread and the wine, And ere the morn at that same time At his they birled the same. 36 The one was buried at Mary's kirk, The other at Mary's quire, And throw the one there sprang a birk, And throw the other a brier. 37 And ay at every year's ane They grew them near and near And every one that passed them by Said, They be lovers dear. G Skene MS., p. 104; northeast of Scotland, 1802-03. 1 Sweet Willie and Fair Annë, They sat on yon hill, And frae the morning till night This twa neer talked their fill. 2 Willie spak a word in jest, And Annë took it ill: 'We's court na mare maidens, Against our parents' will.' 3 'It's na against our parents' will,' Fair Annie she did say, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Willie is hame to his bower, To his book all alane, And Fair Annie is to her bower, To her book and her seam.