Young Bekie was as brave a knight
As ever sail'd the sea;
And he's doen him to the [court o' France],
To serve for meat and fee.
He hadna been in the court o' France5
A twelvemonth nor sae lang,
Till he fell in love wi' the king's daughter,
And was thrown in prison strang.
The king he had but ae daughter,
Burd Isbel was her name;10
And she has to the prison gane,
To hear the prisoner's mane.
"O gin a lady wad borrow me,
At her stirrup I wad rin;
Or gin a widow wad borrow me,15
I wad swear to be her son.
"Or gin a virgin wad borrow me,
I wad wed her wi' a ring;
I'd gi'e her ha's, I'd gi'e her bowers,
The bonny towers o' Linne."20
O barefoot barefoot gaed she but,
And barefoot cam she ben;
It wasna for want o' hose and shoon,
Nor time to put them on;
But a' for fear that her father25
Had heard her makin' din;
For she's stown the keys of the prison,
And gane the dungeon within.
And when she saw him, young Bekie,
Wow, but her heart was sair!30
For the mice, but and the bald rattons,
Had eaten his yellow hair.
She's gotten him a shaver for his beard,
A comber till his hair;
Five hundred pound in his pocket,35
To spend, and nae to spare.