"O lie ye there, Earl Richard," she says,
"O lie ye there till morn;
A fairer lady than ten of me
Will think lang of your coming home."
She called her servants ane by ane,25
She called them twa by twa:
"I have got a dead man in my bower,
I wish he were awa."
The ane has ta'en him by the hand,
And the other by the feet;30
And they've thrown him in a deep draw well,
Full fifty fathoms deep.
Then up bespake a little bird,
That sat upon a tree:
"Gae hame, gae hame, ye fause lady,35
And pay your maids their fee."
"Come down, come down, my pretty bird,
That sits upon the tree;
I have a cage of beaten gold,
I'll gie it unto thee."40
"Gae hame, gae hame, ye fause lady,
And pay your maids their fee;
As ye have done to Earl Richard,
Sae wud ye do to me."
"If I had an arrow in my hand,45
And a bow bent on a string;
I'd shoot a dart at thy proud heart,
Among the leaves sae green."