Johnie rose up in a May morning,
Call'd for water to wash his hands—
"Gar loose to me the gude graie dogs,
That are bound wi' iron bands."
When Johnie's mother gat word o' that,5
Her hands for dule she wrang—
"O Johnie! for my benison,
To the greenwood dinna gang!
"Eneugh ye hae o' gude wheat bread,
And eneugh o' the blood-red wine;10
And, therefore, for nae venison, Johnie,
I pray ye, stir frae hame."
But Johnie's busk't up his gude bend bow,
His arrows, ane by ane,
And he has gane to Durrisdeer,15
To hunt the dun deer down.
As he came down by Merriemass,
And in by the benty line,
There has he espied a deer lying
Aneath a bush of ling.20
Johnie he shot, and the dun deer lap,
And he wounded her on the side;
But atween the water and the brae,
His hounds they laid her pride.
And Johnie has bryttled the deer sae weel,25
That he's had out her liver and lungs;
And wi' these he has feasted his bluidy hounds,
As if they had been earl's sons.
They eat sae much o' the venison,
And drank sae much o' the blude,30
That Johnie and a' his bluidy hounds
Fell asleep as they had been dead.
And by there came a silly auld carle,
An ill death mote he die!
For he's awa' to Hislinton,35
Where the Seven Foresters did lie.