[She's ta'en her bracelet frae her arm,
Her garter frae her knee:
"Gie that, gie that, to my young son;125
He'll ne'er his mother see.">[
Willie's ta'en the key of his coffer,
And gi'en it to his man;
"Gae hame, and tell my mother dear,
My horse he has me slain;130
Bid her be kind to my young son,
For father he has nane."
["Gar deal, gar deal the bread," he cried,
"Gar deal, gar deal the wine;
This day has seen my true love's death,135
This night shall witness mine.">[
The tane was buried in Marie's kirk,
And the tither in Marie's quire:
Out of the tane there grew a birk,
And the tither a bonny brier.140
SWEET WILLIE.
"This ballad has had the misfortune, in common with many others, of being much mutilated by reciters. I have endeavoured, by the assistance of some fragments, to make it as complete as possible; and have even taken the liberty of altering the arrangement of some of the stanzas of a lately-procured copy, that they might the better cohere with those already printed." Finlay's Scottish Ballads, ii. 61.
"Will you marry the southland lord,
A queen o' fair England to be?
Or will you mourn for sweet Willie,
The morn upon yon lea?"
"I will marry the southland lord,5
Father, sen it is your will;
But I'd rather it were my burial day,
For my grave I'm going till.