THE CRUEL BROTHER.
From Aytoun's Ballads of Scotland (2d ed.), i. 232, "taken down from recitation." Found also, but with several stanzas wanting, in Herd's Scottish Songs, i. 149. The title in both collections is Fine Flowers i' the Valley. This part of the refrain is found in one of the versions of the Cruel Mother, p. 269. To Herd's copy are annexed two fragmentary stanzas with nearly the same burden as that of the foregoing ballad.
She louted down to gie a kiss,
With a hey and a lily gay;
He stuck his penknife in her hass,
And the rose it smells so sweetly.
"Ride up, ride up," cry'd the foremost man,
With a hey and a lily gay;
"I think our bride looks pale and wan,"
And the rose it smells so sweetly.
There were three sisters in a ha',
Fine flowers i' the valley,
There came three lords amang them a',
The red, green, and the yellow.
The first o' them was clad in red,5
Fine flowers i' the valley;
"O lady, will ye be my bride?"
Wi' the red, green, and the yellow.
The second o' them was clad in green,
Fine flowers i' the valley;10
"O lady, will ye be my queen?"
Wi' the red, green, and the yellow.
The third o' them was clad in yellow,
Fine flowers i' the valley;
"O lady, will ye be my marrow?"15
Wi' the red, green, and the yellow.
"O ye maun ask my father dear,"
Fine flowers i' the valley,
"Likewise the mother that did me bear,"
Wi' the red, green, and the yellow.20