40
'There is a difference, my dame,' he said,
''Tween that ladye's colour and yours;
As much difference as you were a stock,
She o the lily flowers.'
41
Then out it speaks him Young Bondwell,
An angry man was he:
'Cast up the yetts baith wide an braid,
These ladies I may see.'
42
Quickly up stairs Dame Essel's gane,
Her maidens next her wi;
Then said the bride, This lady's face
Shows the porter's tauld nae lie.
43
The lady unto Bondwell spake,
These words pronounced she:
O hearken, hearken, fause Bondwell,
These words that I tell thee.
44
Is this the way ye keep your vows
That ye did make to me,
When your feet were in iron fetters,
Ae foot ye coudna flee?
45
I stole the keys o the jail-house door
Frae under the bed they lay,
And opend up the jail-house door,
Set you at liberty.
46
Gae you a steed was swift in need,
A saddle o royal ben,
A hunder pund o pennies round,
Bade you gae rove an spend.
47
A couple o hounds o ae litter,
Cain they ca'ed the ane,
Twa gay gos-hawks as swift's eer flew,
To keep you onthought lang.
48
But since this day ye've broke your vow,
For which ye're sair to blame,
And since nae mair I'll get o you,
O Cain, will ye gae hame?
49
'O Cain! O Cain!' the lady cried,
And Cain did her ken;
They baith flappd round the lady's knee,
Like a couple o armed men.