C
a. Motherwell’s MS., p. 89; from recitation. b. “Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 116, and Sharpe’s Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 137, the last stanza.
1
‘He set her on his bonnie black horse,
He set himsel on his good gray naigie;
He has ridden over hills, he has ridden over dales,
And he’s quite awa wi my bonny Peggy.
2
‘Her brow it is brent and her middle it is jimp,
Her arms are long and her fingers slender;
One sight of her eyes makes my very heart rejoice,
And wae’s my heart that we should sunder!’
3
His sheets were of the good green hay,
His blankets were of the brackens bonnie;
He’s laid his trews beneath her head,
And she’s lain down wi her Highland laddie.
4
‘I am my mother’s ae daughter,
And she had nae mair unto my daddie,
And this night she would have a sore, sore heart
For to see me lye down with a Highland laddie.’
5
‘Ye are your mother’s ae daughter,
And she had nae mae unto your daddie;
This night she need not have a sore, sore heart
For to see you lie down with a Highland laddie.
6
‘I have four-and-twenty acres of land,
It is ploughed, it is sown, and is always ready,
And you shall have servants at your command;
And why should you slight a Highland laddie?
7
‘I have four-and-twenty good milk-kye,
They are feeding on yon meadow bonnie;
Besides, I have both lambs and ewes,
Going low in the haughs o Galla water.
8
‘My house it stands on yon hill-side,
My broadsword, durk, and bow is ready,
And you shall have servants at your command;
And why may not Peggy be called a lady?’