30
'What news, what news, my little boy,
What news hae ye to me?
Are there any weddings in this place,
Or any gaun to be?'
31
'There is a wedding in this place,
A wedding very soon;
The morn's the young squire's wedding day,
In the bonny towers of Linne.'
32
O then she walked alang the way
To see what coud be seen,
And there she saw the proud porter,
Drest in a mantle green.
33
'What news, what news, porter?' she said,
'What news hae ye to me?
Are there any weddings in this place,
Or any gaun to be?'
34
'There is a wedding in this place,
A wedding very soon;
The morn is Young Bondwell's wedding day,
The bonny squire o Linne.'
35
'Gae to your master, porter,' she said,
'Gae ye right speedilie;
Bid him come and speak wi a maid
That wishes his face to see.'
36
The porter's up to his master gane,
Fell low down on his knee;
'Win up, win up, my porter,' he said,
'Why bow ye low to me?'
37
'I hae been porter at your yetts
These thirty years and three,
But fairer maids than's at them now
My eyes did never see.
38
'The foremost she is drest in green,
The rest in fine attire,
Wi gowden girdles round their middles,
Well worth a sheriff's hire.'
39
Then out it speaks Bondwell's own bride,
Was a' gowd to the chin;
'They canno be fairer thereout,' she says,
'Than we that are therein.'