This fine old ballad was first printed in the Musical Museum (O heard ye e'er of a silly blind Harper, p. 598). Scott inserted a different copy, equally good, in the Border Minstrelsy, i. 422, and there is another, of very ordinary merits, in Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads (The Jolly Harper), p. 37. In this the theft is done on a wager, and the booty duly restored. On account of the excellence of the ballad, we give two versions, though they differ but slightly.
O heard ye of a silly Harper,
Liv'd long in Lochmaben town,
How he did gang to fair England,
To steal King Henry's Wanton Brown?
But first he gaed to his gude wife
Wi' a' the speed that he coud thole:
"This wark," quo' he, "will never work,
Without a mare that has a foal."
Quo' she, "Thou hast a gude grey mare,
That'll rin o'er hills baith low and hie;10
Gae tak' the grey mare in thy hand,
And leave the foal at hame wi' me.
"And tak a halter in thy hose,
And o' thy purpose dinna fail;
But wap it o'er the Wanton's nose;15
And tie her to the grey mare's tail:
"Syne ca' her out at yon back yeate,
O'er moss and muir and ilka dale,
For she'll ne'er let the Wanton bite,
Till she come hame to her ain foal."20
So he is up to England gane,
Even as fast as he can hie,
Till he came to King Henry's yeate;
And wha' was there but King Henry?
"Come in," quo' he, "thou silly blind Harper,25
And of thy harping let me hear;"
"O, by my sooth," quo' the silly blind Harper,
"I'd rather hae stabling for my mare."
The King looks o'er his left shoulder,
And says unto his stable groom,30
"Gae tak the silly poor Harper's mare,
And tie her 'side my wanton brown."