45 'I wish I had drunk your water, sister,
When that I did drink of your wine,
Since for a carle's fair daughter,
It aye gars me dree all this pine.'
46 'May be I am a carle's daughter,
And may be never nane;
When ye met me in the good greenwood,
Why did you not let me alane?
47 'Gude een, gude een, ye heather-berries,
As ye're growing on yon hill;
If the auld carline and her bags were here,
I wot she would get meat her fill.
48 'Late, late at night, I knit our pokes,
With even four an twenty knots;
And in the morn at breakfast time
I'll carry the keys of an earl's locks.
49 'Late, late at night, I knit our pokes,
With even four an twenty strings;
And if you look to my white fingers,
They have as many gay gold rings.'
50 'Away, away, ye ill woman!
So sore your vile words grieveth me;
When you hide so little for yourself,
I'm sure ye'll hide far less for me.
51 'But if you are a carle's daughter,
As I take you to be,
How did you get the gay cloathing
In greenwood ye had on thee?'
52 'My mother, she's a poor woman,
She nursed earl's children three,
And I got them from a foster-sister,
For to beguile such sparks as thee.'
53 'But if you be a carle's daughter,
As I believe you be,
How did you learn the good Latin
In greenwood ye spoke to me?'
54 'My mother, she's a mean woman,
She nursd earl's children three;
I learnt it from their chaplain,
To beguile such sparks as ye.'