“Ye paid me weel my hire, ladye,
Ye paid me weel my fee;
But now I’m Edom o’ Gordon’s man,
Maun either do or dee.”
Oh, then out spake her youngest son,
Sat on the nurse’s knee:
Says—“Mither dear, gi’e o’er this house,
For the reek it smothers me.”
[“I wou’d gi’e all my gold, my bairn,
Sae wou’d I all my fee,
For ae blast of the westlin’ wind,
To blaw the reek frae thee.]
“But I winna gi’e up my house, my dear,
To nae sic traitor as he;
Come weal, come woe, my jewels fair,
Ye maun take share with me.”
Oh, then out spake her daughter dear,
She was baith jimp and small:
“Oh, row me in a pair of sheets,
And tow me o’er the wall.”
They row’d her in a pair of sheets,
And tow’d her o’er the wall;
But on the point of Gordon’s spear
She got a deadly fall.
Oh, bonnie, bonnie was her mouth,
And cherry were her cheeks;
And clear, clear was her yellow hair,
Whereon the red bluid dreeps.
Then with his spear he turn’d her o’er,
Oh, gin her face was wan!
He said—“You are the first that e’er
I wish’d alive again.”
He turn’d her o’er and o’er again,
Oh, gin her skin was white!
“I might ha’e spared that bonnie face
To ha’e been some man’s delight.
“Busk and boun, my merry men all,
For ill dooms I do guess;
I canna look on that bonnie face,
As it lyes on the grass!”