Then sichin' said the queen hersell,
"That thing's too high for me;"
But she applied to an auld woman,
Who had mair skill than she.
125 Instead o' dancers to dance a dance,
Or minstrells for to play,
Four-and-twenty wall-wight men
Turn'd birds o' feathers gray;
Her seven sons in seven swans,
130 Aboon their heads to flee;
And he, himsell, a gay gos-hawk,
A bird o' high degree.
This flock o' birds took flight and flew
Beyond the raging sea;
135 And landed near the Earl Mar's castle,
Took shelter in every tree.
They were a flock o' pretty birds,
Right comely to be seen;
The people view'd them wi' surprise,
140 As they danc'd on the green.
These birds ascended frae the tree,
And lighted on the ha';
And at the last wi' force did flee
Among the nobles a'.
145 The storks there seized some o' the men,
They cou'd neither fight nor flee;
The swans they bound the bride's best man,
Below a green aik tree.
They lighted next on maidens fair,
150 Then on the bride's own head;
And wi' the twinkling o' an e'e,
The bride and them were fled.
There's ancient men at weddings been,
For sixty years or more;
155 But sic a curious wedding-day
They never saw before.