50
He's to his bride wi hat in hand,
And haild her courteouslie:
'Sit down by me, my bonny Bondwell,
What makes this courtesie?'
51
'An asking, asking, fair lady,
An asking ye'll grant me;'
'Ask on, ask on, my bonny Bondwell,
What may your askings be?'
52
'Five hundred pounds to you I'll gie,
Of gowd an white monie,
If ye'll wed John, my ain cousin;
He looks as fair as me.'
53
'Keep well your monie, Bondwell,' she said,
'Nae monie I ask o thee;
Your cousin John was my first love,
My husband now he's be.'
54
Bondwell was married at morning ear,
John in the afternoon;
Dame Essels is lady ower a' the bowers
And the high towers o Linne.
N.
a. Falkirk, printed by T. Johnston, 1815. b. Stirling, M. Randall.
1
In London was Young Bichen born,
He longd strange lands to see;
He set his foot on good ship-board,
And he sailed over the sea.
2
He had not been in a foreign land
A day but only three,
Till he was taken by a savage Moor,
And they used him most cruelly.
3
In every shoulder they put a pin,
To every pin they put a tree;
They made him draw the plow and cart,
Like horse and oxen in his country.