But as they were at dinner set,
190 The boy asked a boun;
"I wish we were in the good church,
For to get christendoun.
"We ha'e lived in guid green wood
This seven years and ane;
195 But a' this time since e'er I mind,
Was never a church within."
"Your asking 's nae sae great, my boy,
But granted it shall be;
This day to guid church ye shall gang,
200 And your mither shall gang you wi'."
When unto the guid church she came,
She at the door did stan';
She was sae sair sunk down wi' shame,
She coudna come farer ben.
205 Then out it speaks the parish priest,
And a sweet smile gae he;—-
"Come ben, come ben, my lily flower,
Present your babes to me."
Charles, Vincent, Sam, and Dick,
210 And likewise James and John;
They call'd the eldest Young Akin,
Which was his father's name.
Then they staid in the royal court,
And liv'd wi' mirth and glee;
215 And when her father was deceas'd,
Heir of the crown was she.
[97]. The regular propitiation for the "proud porter" of ballad poetry. See, e.g. King Arthur and the King of Cornwall, in the Appendix, v. 49: also the note to King Estmere, vol. iii. p. 172.