"O I'm Clerk Saunders, your true love;
Behold, Margaret, and see,120
And mind, for a' your meikle pride,
Sae will become of thee."
"Gin ye be Clerk Saunders, my true love,
This meikle marvels me:
O wherein is your bonny arms125
That wont to embrace me?"
"By worms they're eaten, in mools they're rotten,
Behold, Margaret, and see;
And mind, for a' your mickle pride,
Sae will become o' thee!"130
* * * * * * *
O, bonny, bonny sang the bird,
Sat on the coil o' hay;
But dowie, dowie was the maid,
That follow'd the corpse o' clay.
"Is there ony room at your head, Saunders,135
Is there ony room at your feet?
Is there ony room at your twa sides,
For a lady to lie and sleep?"
"There is nae room at my head, Margaret,
As little at my feet;140
There is nae room at my twa sides,
For a lady to lie and sleep.
"But gae hame, gae hame, now, May Margaret,
Gae hame and sew your seam;
For if ye were laid in your weel-made bed,145
Your days will nae be lang."
[114]. The wa' here is supposed to mean the wall, which, in some old castles, surrounded the court. J.