When day was gane, and night was come,
About the evening-tide,
This lady spied a bonny youth
Stand straight up by her side.
"Now whence come ye, young man," she said,
"To put me into fear?
My door was bolted right secure,
And what way cam' ye here?"
"O haud your tongue, my lady fair,
Lat a' your folly be;
Mind ye not o' your turtle-doo
Ye coax'd from aff the tree?"
"O wha are ye, young man?" she said,
"What country come ye frae?"
"I flew across the sea," he said,
"'Twas but this verra day.
"My mither is a queen," he says,
Likewise of magic skill;
'Twas she that turned me in a doo,
To fly where'er I will.
"And it was but this verra day
That I cam' ower the sea:
I loved you at a single look;
With you I'll live and dee."
"O Coo-my-doo, my love sae true,
Nae mair frae me ye'se gae."
"That's never my intent, my love;
As ye said, it shall be sae."
There he has lived in bower wi' her,
For six lang years and ane;
Till sax young sons to him she bare,
And the seventh she's brought hame.
But aye, as soon's a child was born,
He carried them away,
And brought them to his mither's care,
As fast as he could fly.
Thus he has stay'd in bower wi' her
For seven lang years and mair;
Till there cam' a lord o' hie renown
To court that lady fair.