27
'I am the most unhappy man
That ever was in christen land!
28
'I courted a maiden meik and mild,
And I hae gotten naething but a woman wi child.'
29
'O stay, my son, into this ha,
And sport ye wi your merrymen a';
30
'And I will to the secret bour,
To see how it fares wi your paramour.'
31
The carline she was stark and sture;
She aff the hinges dang the dure.
32
'O is your bairn to laird or loun?
Or is it to your father's groom?'
33
'O hear me, mother, on my knee,
Till my sad story I tell to thee.
34
'O we were sisters, sisters seven,
We were the fairest under heaven.
35
'It fell on a summer's afternoon,
When a' our toilsome task was done,
36
'We cast the kavils us amang,
To see which suld to the grene-wood gang.