I
Kinloch MSS, VII, 153; from the recitation of Miss M. Kinnear, August 23, 1826, a North Country version.
1
The lassie sang sae loud, sae loud,
The lassie sang sae shill;
The lassie sang, and the greenwud rang,
At the farther side o yon hill.
2
Bye there cam a troop o merry gentlemen,
They aw rode merry bye;
The very first and the foremaist
Was the first that spak to the may.
3
‘This is a mark and misty nicht,
And I have ridden wrang;
If ye wad be sae gude and kind
As to show me the way to gang.’
4
‘If ye binna the laird o Lochnie’s lands,
Nor nane o his degree,
I’ll show ye a nearer road that will keep you frae
The glen-waters and the raging sea.’
5
‘I’m na the laird o Lochnie’s lands,
Nor nane o his degree;
But I am as brave a knicht,
And ride aft in his company.
6
‘Have ye na pity on me, pretty maid?
Have ye na pity on me?
Have ye na pity on my puir steed,
That stands trembling by yon tree?’
7
‘What pity wad ye hae, kind sir?
What pity wad ye hae frae me?
Though your steed has neither corn nor hay,
It has gerss at its liberty.’
8
He has trysted the pretty maid
Till they cam to the brume,
And at the end o yon ew-buchts
It’s there they baith sat doun.
9
Till up she raise, took up her milk-pails,
And away gaed she hame;
Up bespak her auld father,
‘It’s whare hae ye been sae lang?’
10
‘This is a mark and a misty nicht,
Ye may gang to the door and see;
The ewes hae taen a skipping out-oure the knows,
They winna bucht in for me.
11
‘I may curse my father’s shepherd;
Some ill death mat he dee!
He has buchted the ewes sae far frae the toun,
And has trysted the young men to me.’