17 He cam limpin on a staff,
And blinkin on an ee,
And sichand says that gay ladie,
That samen man is he.
* * * * *
K
Motherwell's MS., p. 226. From the recitation of Widow McCormick, Westbrae, Paisley, 1825; learned of an old woman in Dumbarton, thirty or forty years before.
1 There was a shepherd's daughter,
Kept sheep on yonder hill;
O by comes a courtier,
And fain wud hae his will.
We'll go no more a roving,
A roving in the night,
We'll go no more a roving,
Let the moon shine neer so bright.
O we'll go [no] more a roving.
2 He took her by the middle so small,
And by the grass-green sleeve;
He bended her body unto the ground,
And of her parents he askd no leave.
3 'Now since you've got your will o me.
And brought my fair bodie to shame,
All the request I ask of you is,
Pray tell me what's your name.'
4 'O some do call me Jack,' he says,
'And some do call me John,
But when I am in the king's court,
My name is Sweet William.'
5 She took her petticoats by the band,
Her mantle oer her arm,
And she's awa to the king's court,
As fast as she could run.
6 When she came to the king's court,
She tinkled at the ring;
Who was so ready as the king himsel
To let this fair maid in!