Ye had better light, and bide a’ night,
And I’ll choose you a bonny ane.
O wha will ye choose, an’ I wi’ you abide?
The fairest and rarest in a’ the country side.
At the same time presenting an unmarried female by name. If the choice give satisfaction—
I’ll set her up on the bonny pear-tree;
It’s straught and tall, and sae is she;
I wad wake a’ night her love to be.
If the choice do not give satisfaction, from the age of the party—
I’ll set her up i’ the bank dike;
She’ll be rotten ere I be ripe;
The corbies her auld banes wadna pike.
If from supposed want of temper—
I’ll set her up on the high crab-tree;
It’s sour and dour, and sae is she;
She may gang to the mools unkissed by me.
A civil mode of declining is to say—
She’s for another, and no for me;
I thank you for your courtesie.