Fair Catherine from her bower-window
Looked over heath and wood;
She heard a smit o' bridle-reins,
And the sound did her heart good.
"Welcome, young Redin, welcome!
And welcome again, my dear!
Light down, light down from your horse," she
"It's long since you were here."
"O gude morrow, lady, gude morrow, lady;
God mak' you safe and free!
I'm come to tak' my last fareweel,
And pay my last visit to thee.
"I mustna light, and I canna light,
I winna stay at a';
For a fairer lady than ten of thee
Is waiting at Castleswa'."
"O if your love be changed, my dear,
Since better may not be,
Yet, ne'ertheless, for auld lang syne,
Bide this ae night wi' me."
She birl'd him wi' the ale and wine,
As they sat down to sup;
A living man he laid him down,
But I wot he ne'er rose up.
"Now lie ye there, young Redin," she says,
"O lie ye there till morn,—
Though a fairer lady than ten of me
Is waiting till you come home!
"O lang, lang is the winter night,
Till day begins to daw;
There is a dead man in my bower,
And I would he were awa'."
She cried upon her bower-maiden,
Aye ready at her ca':
"There is a knight into my bower,
'Tis time he were awa'."
They've booted him and spurred him,
As he was wont to ride,
A hunting-horn tied round his waist,
A sharp sword by his side;
And they've flung him into the wan water,
The deepest pool in Clyde.