12
'They'll turn me to a flash of fire,
And then to a naked man;
Come, wrap you your mantle me about,
And then you'll have me won.'
13
She took her petticoats by the band,
Her mantle owre her arm,
And she's awa to Chester bridge,
As fast as she could run.
14
And first she did let pass the black,
And then let pass the brown,
But when she met the milk-white steed,
She pulled the rider down.
15
They turned him in her arms an eagle,
And then into an ass;
But she held him fast, and feared him not,
The man that she loved best.
16
They turned him into a flash of fire,
And then into a naked man;
But she wrapped her mantle him about,
And then she had him won.
17
'O wae be to ye, Lady Margaret,
And an ill death may you die,
For you've robbed me of the bravest knight
That eer rode in our company.'
G.
Buchan's MSS, I, 8; Motherwell's MS., p. 595.
1
Take warning, a' ye ladies fair,
That wear gowd on your hair,
Come never unto Charter's woods,
For Tam-a-line he's there.
2
Even about that knight's middle
O' siller bells are nine;
Nae ane comes to Charter wood,
And a maid returns again.