Then out it spak her, bonny Jane,
The youngest o' the three:70
"O lady, why look ye sae sad?
Come tell your grief to me."
"O wharefore should I tell my grief,
Since lax I canna find?
I'm far frae a' my kin and friends,75
And my love I left behind.
"But had I paper, pen, and ink,
Afore that it were day,
I yet might get a letter wrate,
And sent to Johnie Hay.80
"And gin I had a bonny boy,
To help me in my need,
That he might rin to bonny Dundee,
And come again wi' speed!"
And they hae gotten a bonny boy85
Their errand for to gang;
And bade him run to Bonny Dundee,
And nae to tarry lang.
The boy he ran o'er muir and dale,
As fast as he could flee;90
And e'er the sun was twa hours hight,
The boy was at Dundee.
Whan Johnie lookit the letter on,
A hearty laugh leuch he;
But ere he read it till an end,95
The tear blinded his e'e.
"O wha is this, or wha is that,
Has stown my love frae me?
Although he were my ae brither,
An ill dead sall he die.100
"Gae, saddle to me the black," he says;
"Gae, saddle to me the brown;
Gae, saddle to me the swiftest steed,
That ever rade frae the town."