B
Buchan’s MSS, II, 182
1
There were four-an-twenty sailors bold
Sat drinking at the wine;
There fell a rousing them among,
In an unseally time.
2
Some there reasd their hawk, their hawk,
And some there reasd their hound,
But Young Allan reasd his comely cog,
As she floats on the feam.
3
‘There’s not a ship amang you a’
Will sail alang wi me,
But the comely cog o Heckland Hawk,
And Flower o Germanie,
And the Black Snake o Leve London;
They are all gane frae me.’
4
The wager was a gude wager,
Of fifty tuns of wine,
And as much o the gude black silk
As cleathd their lemans fine.
5
At midnight dark the wind up stark,
The seas began to rout;
Young Allan and his bonny new ship
Gaed three times witherlins about.
6
‘O faer will I get a bonny boy
Will take my helm in hand
Ere I gang up to the tapmast-head
To look for some dry land?’
7
‘O waken, waken your drunken men,
As they lie drunk wi wine;
For when ye came thro Edinburgh town
Ye bought them shoes o ben.
8
‘There was no shoe made for my feet,
Nor gluve made for my hand;
But nevertheless, my dear master,
I’ll take your helm in hand
Till ye gae to the topmast head
And look for some dry land.’
9
‘I cannot see no day, no day,
Nor no meathe can I ken;
But mony a bonny feather-bed
Lies floating on the faem.’
10
‘Come down, come down, my dear master,
You see not what I see;
Through an through your bonny new ship
Comes in the green haw sea.’
11
‘Take fifty ells o the canvas broad
And wrap it in a’ roun,
And as much o good pich an tar
Make her go hale an soun.
12
‘Sail on, sail on, my bonny ship,
And haste ye to dry lan,
And every nail that is in you
Shall be a gay gold pin.
13
‘Sail on, sail on, my bonny ship,
And hae me to some lan,
And a firlot full o guineas red
Will be dealt at the lan’s end.’
14
The ship she hearkend to their voice
And listend to their leed,
And she gaed thro the green haw sea
Like fire out o a gleed.
15
When the ship got word o that,
Goud was to be her beat,
She’s flowen thro the stormy seas
Like sparks out o a weet.
16
The first an shore that they came till,
It was the shore o Troup;
Wi cannons an great shooting there,
They held Young Allan out.
17
The next an shore that they came till,
It was the shore o Lee;
Wi piping an sweet singing there,
They towed Young Allan tee.
18
The next an shore that they came till,
It was the shore o Lin;
Wi drums beating and pipers playing,
They towed Young Allan in,
And Allan’s lady she was there,
To welcome Allan hame.
19
‘O faer is my little boy,’ he said,
‘That I brought oer the sea?’
‘I’m coming, master, running, master,
At your command shall be.’
20
‘O take to you my comely cog,
And wed my daughter free,
And a’ for this ae night’s wark
That ye did wake wi me.’