"O woe betide Mill o' Tiftie's pride!
He might have let them marry;190
I should have giv'n them both to live
Into the lands of Fyvie."
Her father sorely now laments
The loss of his dear Annie,
And wishes he had gi'en consent195
To wed with Andrew Lammie.
Her mother grieves both air and late;
Her sisters, 'cause they scorn'd her;
Surely her brother doth mourn and grieve,
For the cruel usage he'd giv'n her.200
But now, alas! it was too late,
For they could not recal her;
Through life, unhappy is their fate,
Because they did controul her.
When Andrew hame from Edinburgh came,205
With meikle grief and sorrow,
"My love has died for me to-day,
I'll die for her to-morrow.
"Now I will on to Tiftie's den,
Where the burn runs clear and bonny;210
With tears I'll view the bridge of [Sleugh],
Where I parted last with Annie.
"Then will I speed to the churchyard,
To the green churchyard of Fyvie;
With tears I'll water my love's grave,215
Till I follow Tiftie's Annie."
Ye parents grave, who children have,
In crushing them be canny,
Lest when too late you do repent;
Remember Tiftie's Annie.220
[211]. "In one printed copy this is 'Sheugh,' and in a recited copy it was called 'Skew'; which is the right reading, the editor, from his ignorance of the topography of the lands of Fyvie, is unable to say. It is a received superstition in Scotland, that, when friends or lovers part at a bridge, they shall never again meet." Motherwell.