Then, sighing, said the Queen to hersell,
"That thing's too high for me!"
But she applied to an auld woman,
Who had mair skill than she.
Instead o' dancers to dance a dance,
Or minstrels for to play,
Were four-and-twenty well-wight men
Turn'd birds o' feathers gray;
Her seven sons in seven swans,
Aboon their heads to flee;
And he himsell a gay gos-hawk,
A bird o' high degree.
This flook o' birds took flight and flew
Beyond the raging sea;
They landed near the Earl Mar's castle,
Took shelter in every tree.
They were a flock o' pretty birds,
Right wondrous to be seen;
The weddin'eers they looked at them
Whilst walking on the green.
These birds flew up frae bush and tree,
And, lighted on the ha';
And, when the wedding-train cam' forth,
Flew down amang them a'.
The storks they seized the boldest men,
That they could not fight or flee;
The swans they bound the bridegroom fast
Unto a green aik tree.
They flew around the bride-maidens,
Around the bride's own head;
And, wi' the twinkling o' an ee,
The bride and they were fled.
There's ancient men at weddings been
For eighty years or more;
But siccan a curious wedding-day
They never saw before.
For naething could the company do,
Nor naething could they say;
But they saw a flock o' pretty birds
That took their bride away.