JOHN O' HAZELGREEN.
Neither the present version of this ballad, (taken from Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, ii. 253,) nor that furnished by Kinloch, (Jock o' Hazelgreen, p. 206,) is at all satisfactory. Another, much superior in point of taste, but made up from four different copies, is given in Chambers's Scottish Ballads, p. 319.
Sir W. Scott's song of Jock o' Hazeldean was suggested by a single stanza of this ballad, which he had heard as a fragment, thus:
"'Why weep ye by the tide ladye,
Why weep ye by the tide?
I'll wed ye to my youngest son,
And ye shall be his bride;
And ye shall be his bride, ladye,
Sae comely to be seen:'
But aye she loot the tears down fa'
For Jock o' Hazeldean."
As I went forth to take the air
Intill an evening clear,
And there I spied a lady fair
Making a heavy bier.
Making a heavy bier, I say,5
But and a piteous meen;
And aye she sigh'd, and said, alas!
For John o' Hazelgreen.
The sun was sinking in the west,
The stars were shining clear;10
When thro' the thickets o' the wood,
A gentleman did appear.
Says, "who has done you the wrong, fair maid,
And left you here alane;
Or who has kiss'd your lovely lips,15
That ye ca' Hazelgreen?"
"Hold your tongue, kind sir," she said,
"And do not banter so;
How will ye add affliction
Unto a lover's woe?20
For none's done me the wrong," she said,
"Nor left me here alane;
Nor none has kiss'd my lovely lips,
That I ca' Hazelgreen."