M
Herd’s MSS, I, 54.
1
Earl Douglas, than wham never knight
Had valour moe ne courtesie,
Yet he’s now blamet be a’ the land
For lightlying o his gay lady.
2
‘Go, little page, and tell your lord,
Gin he will cum and dine wi me,
I’ll set him on a seat of gold,
I’ll serve him on my bended knee.’
3
The little page gaed up the stair:
‘Lord Douglas, dyne wi your lady;
She’ll set ye on a seat of gold,
And serve ye on her bended knee.’
4
‘When cockle-shells turn siller bells,
When mussels grow on ilka tree,
When frost and snow sall warm us a’,
Then I sall dyne wi my ladie.’
5
‘Now wae betide ye, black Fastness,
Ay and an ill dead met ye die!
Ye was the first and the foremost man
Wha parted my true lord and me.’