“These four-and-twenty mills complete,
Shall gang for thee thro’ all the year;
And as meikle of gude red wheat,
As all their happers dow to bear.”
“Away, away, thou traitor strang!
Out of my sight soon may’st thou be!
I granted never a traitor’s life,
And now I’ll not begin with thee.”
“Grant me my life, my liege, my king!
And a great gift I’ll gi’e to thee:
Bauld four-and-twenty sisters’ sons
Shall for thee fecht, tho’ all shou’d flee.”
“Away, away, thou traitor strang!
Out of my sight soon may’st thou be!
I granted never a traitor’s life,
And now I’ll not begin with thee.”
“Grant me my life, my liege, my king!
And a brave gift I’ll gi’e to thee:
All between here and Newcastle town
Shall pay their yearly rent to thee.”
“Away, away, thou traitor strang!
Out of my sight soon may’st thou be!
I granted never a traitor’s life,
And now I’ll not begin with thee.”
“Ye lied, ye lied, now, king,” he says,
“Altho’ a king and prince ye be!
For I’ve loved naething in my life,
I weel dare say it, but honestie.
“Save a fat horse, and a fair woman,
Twa bonnie dogs to kill a deer;
But England shou’d have found me meal and mault,
Gif I had lived this hundred year.
“She shou’d have found me meal and mault,
And beef and mutton in all plentie;
But never a Scots wife cou’d have said,
That e’er I skaith’d her a puir flee.
“To seek het water beneath cauld ice,
Surely it is a great follie:
I have ask’d grace at a graceless face,
But there is nane for my men and me.