Johnny Cock out-shot a' the foresters,
And out-shot a' the three;
Out shot a' the foresters,15
Wounded Johnny aboun the bree.
"Woe be to you, foresters,
[And an ill death may you die!]
For there would not a wolf in a' the wood,
Have done the like to me.20
"For ''twould ha' put its foot in the coll water,
And ha strinkled it on my bree;
And gin [it] that would not have done,
Would have gane and lett me be.
"I often took to my mother25
The dandoo and the roe;
But now I'l take to my mother
Much sorrow and much woe.
"I often took to my mother
The dandoo and the hare;30
But now I'l take to my mother
Much sorrow and much care."
[18-24]. Finlay furnishes one beautiful stanza which belongs to this portion of the story, and, as that editor remarks, describes expressively the languor of approaching death.
There's no a bird in a' this foreste
Will do as meikle for me,
As dip its wing in the wan water
An straik it on my ee-bree.
Scottish Ballads, I. xxxi.