A

Cromek’s Select Scotish Songs, 1810, II, 196, 194; sent, with other fragments, by Robert Burns to William Tytler, August, 1790; stanzas 2–6.


1

‘Where shall I gang, my ain true love?

Where shall I gang to hide me?

For weel ye ken i yere father’s bowr

It wad be death to find me.’

2

‘O go you to yon tavern-house,

An there count owre your lawin,

An, if I be a woman true,

I’ll meet you in the dawin.’

3

O he’s gone to yon tavern-house,

An ay he counted his lawin,

An ay he drank to her guid health

Was to meet him in the dawin.

4

O he’s gone to yon tavern-house,

An counted owre his lawin,

When in there cam three armed men,

To meet him in the dawin.

5

‘O woe be unto woman’s wit!

It has beguiled many;

She promised to come hersel,

But she sent three men to slay me.’