"Where will I get a bonny boy,
Will win gold to his fee,
Will run unto Childe Vyet's ha',
With this letter from me?"40
"O here, I am the boy," says one,
"Will win gold to my fee,
And carry away any letter,
To Childe Vyet from thee."
And when he found the bridges broke,45
He bent his bow and swam;
And when he found the grass growing,
He hasten'd and he ran.
And when he came to Vyet's castle,
He did not knock nor call,50
But set his bent bow to his breast,
And lightly leaped the wall;
And ere the porter open'd the gate,
The boy was in the hall.
The first line that Childe Vyet read,55
A grieved man was he;
The next line that he looked on,
A tear blinded his e'e.
"What ails my own brother," he says,
"He'll not let my love be;60
But I'll send to my brother's bridal;
The woman shall be free.
"Take four and twenty bucks and ewes,
And ten tun of the wine,
And bid my love be blythe and glad,65
And I will follow syne."
There was not a groom about that castle,
But got a gown of green;
And a' was blythe, and a' was glad,
But Lady Maiserey [was wi' wean].70
There was no cook about the kitchen,
But got a gown of gray;
And a' was blythe, and a' was glad,
But Lady Maiserey was wae.