4
She's set her back untill a tree,
Bonny were the twa boys she did bear.
5
But she took out a little pen-knife,
And she parted them and their sweet life.
6
She's aff untill her father's ha;
She was the lealest maiden that was amang them a'.
7
As she lookit oure the castle wa,
She spied twa bonnie boys playing at the ba.
8
'O if these two babes were mine,
They should wear the silk and the sabelline!'
9
'O mother dear, when we were thine,
We neither wore the silks nor the sabelline.
10
'But out ye took a little pen-knife,
And ye parted us and our sweet life.
11
'But now we're in the heavens hie,
And ye've the pains o hell to drie.'
E.
a. Motherwell's MS., p. 390. b. Motherwell's Note-Book, p. 33. From the recitation of Agnes Lyle, Kilbarchan, August 24, 1825.