When day was gone, and night was come, About the evening-tide, This lady spied a gallant youth Stand straight up by her side. VIII ‘From whence cam’ ye, young man?’ she said; ‘That does surprise me sair; My door was bolted right secure, What way hae ye come here?’-- IX ‘O haud your tongue, ye lady fair, Lat a’ your folly be; Mind ye not o’ your turtle-doo Ye wiled from aff the tree?’-- X ‘What country come ye frae?’ she said, ‘An’ what’s your pedigree?’-- ‘O it was but this verra day That I cam’ ower the sea. XI ‘My mither lives on foreign isles, A queen o’ high degree; And by her spells I am a doo With you to live an’ dee.’-- XII ‘O Coo-me-doo, my love sae true, Nae mair frae me ye’se gae.’-- ‘That’s never my intent, my love; As ye said, it shall be sae.’ XIII Then he has stay’d in bower wi’ her For six lang years and ane, Till six young sons to him she bare, And the seventh she’s brought hame. XIV But aye, as ever a child was born, He carried them away, And brought them to his mither’s care As fast as he could fly. XV When he had stay’d in bower wi’ her For seven lang years an’ mair There cam’ a lord o’ high renown To court this lady fair. XVI But still his proffer she refused And a’ his presents too; Says, ‘I’m content to live alane Wi’ my bird Coo-me-doo.’ XVII Her father swore a michty oath Amang the nobles all, ‘The morn, or ere I eat or drink, This bird I will gar kill.’ XVIII The bird was sitting in his cage And heard what they did say; Says, ‘Wae is me, and you forlorn, If I do langer stay!’ XIX Then Coo-me-doo took flight and flew And afar beyond the sea, And lichted near his mither’s castle On a tower o’ gowd sae hie. XX His mither she was walking out To see what she could see, And there she saw her one young son Set on the tower sae hie. XXI ‘Get dancers here to dance,’ she said, ‘And minstrels for to play; For here’s my young son Florentine Come hame wi’ me to stay.’-- XXII ‘Get nae dancers to dance, mither, Nor minstrels for to play; For the mither o’ my seven sons, The morn’s her wedding-day.’-- XXIII ‘O tell me, tell me, Florentine, Tell me, an tell me true; Tell me this day without a flaw What I will do for you?’-- XXIV ‘Instead of dancers to dance, mither, Or minstrels for to play, Turn four-and-twenty well-wight[216] men Like storks in feathers gray: XXV ‘My seven sons in seven swans Aboon their heads to flee; And I mysel’ a gay goshawk, A bird o’ high degree.’ XXVI