The Captain was run through the thick of the thigh,
And broken was his right leg bane;
If he had lived this hundred years,
He had never been loved by woman again.160
"Hae back the kye!" the Captain said;
"Dear kye, I trow, to some they be;
For gin I suld live a hundred years,
There will ne'er fair lady smile on me."
Then word is gane to the Captain's bride,165
Even in the bower where that she lay,
That her lord was prisoner in enemy's land,
Since into Tividale he had led the way.
"I wad lourd have had a winding-sheet,
And helped to put it ower his head,170
Ere he had been disgraced by the Border Scot,
Whan he ower Liddel his men did lead!"
There was a wild gallant amang us a',
His name was Watty wi' the Wudspurs,
Cried—"On for his house in [Stanegirthside],175
If ony man will ride with us!"
When they cam to the Stanegirthside,
They dang wi' trees, and burst the door;
They loosed out a' the Captain's kye,
And set them forth our lads before.180
There was an auld wyfe ayont the fire,
A wee bit o' the Captain's kin—
"Whae dar loose out the Captain's kye,
Or answer to him and his men?"
"It's I, Watty Wudspurs, loose the kye,185
I winna layne my name frae thee;
And I will loose out the Captain's kye,
In scorn of a' his men and he."
Whan they cam to the fair Dodhead,
They were a wellcum sight to see;190
For instead of his ain ten milk kye,
Jamie Telfer has gotten thirty and three.