"Ye'll take your arrow and your bow,
And ye will hunt the deer and roe;
Be sure ye touch not the white hynde,
For she is o' the woman kind."
He took sic pleasure in deer and roe,65
Till he forgot his gay ladye;
Till by it came that milk-white hynde,
And then he mind on his ladye syne.
He hasted him to yon greenwood tree,
For to relieve his gay ladye;70
But found his ladye lying dead,
Likeways her young son at her head.
His mother lay ower her castle wa',
And she beheld baith dale and down;
And she beheld young Leesome Brand,75
As he came riding to the town.
"Get minstrels for to play," she said,
"And dancers to dance in my room;
For here comes my son, Leesome Brand,
And he comes merrilie to the town."80
"Seek nae minstrels to play, mother,
Nor dancers to dance in your room;
But tho' your son comes, Leesome Brand,
Yet he comes sorry to the town.
"O I hae lost my gowden knife,85
I rather had lost my ain sweet life;
And I hae lost a better thing,
The gilded sheath that it was in."
"Are there nae gowdsmiths here in Fife,
Can make to you anither knife?90
Are there nae sheath-makers in the land,
Can make a sheath to Leesome Brand?"
"There are nae gowdsmiths here in Fife,
Can make me sic a gowden knife;
Nor nae sheath-makers in the land,95
Can make to me a sheath again.