LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET.
From Percy's Reliques, iii. 290, where it was "given, with some corrections, from a MS. copy transmitted from Scotland." There is a corresponding Swedish Ballad, Herr Peder och Liten Kerstin, in the Svenska Folk-Visor, i. 49. It is translated in Literature and Romance of Northern Europe, by William and Mary Howitt, i. 258.
Lord Thomas and fair Annet
Sate a' day on a hill;
Whan night was cum, and sun was sett,
They had not talkt their fill.
Lord Thomas said a word in jest,5
Fair Annet took it ill:
"A' I will nevir wed a wife
Against my ain friends will."
"Gif ye wull nevir wed a wife,
A wife wull neir wed yee:"10
Sae he is hame to tell his mither,
And knelt upon his knee.
"O rede, O rede, mither," he says,
"A gude rede gie to mee:
O sall I tak the nut-browne bride,15
And let faire Annet bee?"
"The nut-browne bride haes gowd and gear,
Fair Annet she has gat nane;
And the little beauty fair Annet has,
O it wull soon be gane."20