A fragment of a similar story, the relations of the parties being reversed, is Lady Alice, given in Bell's Ballads of the Peasantry, p. 127, and Notes and Queries, 2d S, i. 418.—Compare also Fair Margaret, &c. p. 140.
Lord Lovel stands at his stable door,
Mounted upon a grey steed;
And bye came Ladie Nanciebel,
And wish'd Lord Lovel much speed.
"O whare are ye going, Lord Lovel,5
My dearest tell to me?"
"O I am going a far journey,
Some strange countrie to see;
"But I'll return in seven long years,
Lady Nanciebel to see."10
"O seven, seven, seven long years,
They are much too long for me."
* * * * * * *
He was gane a year away,
A year but barely ane,
When a strange fancy cam into his head,15
That fair Nanciebel was gane.
It's then he rade, and better rade,
Until he cam to the toun,
And then he heard a dismal noise,
For the church bells a' did soun'.20
He asked what the bells rang for;
They said, "It's for Nanciebel;
She died for a discourteous squire,
And his name is Lord Lovel."
The lid o' the coffin he opened up,25
The linens he faulded doun;
And ae he kiss'd her pale, pale lips,
And the tears cam trinkling doun.