Chambers's Scottish Ballads, p. 129.
From Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, i. 56.
My mother was an ill woman,
In fifteen years she married me;
I hadna wit to guide a man,
Alas! ill counsel guided me.
O Warriston, O Warriston,5
I wish that ye may sink for sin;
I was but bare fifteen years auld,
Whan first I enter'd your yates within.
I hadna been a month married,
Till my gude lord went to the sea;10
I bare a bairn ere he came hame,
And set it on the nourice knee.
But it fell ance upon a day,
That my gude lord return'd from sea;
Then I did dress in the best array,15
As blythe as ony bird on tree.
I took my young son in my arms,
Likewise my nourice me forebye,
And I went down to yon shore side,
My gude lord's vessel I might spy.20
My lord he stood upon the deck,
I wyte he hail'd me courteouslie;
"Ye are thrice welcome, my lady gay,
Whase aught that bairn on your knee?"