And with the jolly plowman she’ll whistle and she’ll sing,
And at night she’ll return to her nest back again.’
It is interesting to notice that Cromek has attributed lines almost identical with these to Robert Burns,[21] and the most eminent editors of the works of the Ayrshire Bard have followed him. The lines as given by Cromek read thus:—
‘As I was a wand’ring ae morning in spring,
I heard a young ploughman sae sweetly to sing,
And as he was singin’ thir words he did say,
There’s nae life like the Ploughman in the month o’ sweet May—
The lav’rock in the morning she’ll rise frae her nest,
And mount to the air wi’ the dew on her breast,
And wi’ the merry Ploughman she’ll whistle and sing,