15 'I have no sister but barely one,
I fear fair Margery!
I wish I was at Spindlestone Heughs,
This laidler worm to see.'
16 Up then spoke his eldest brother,
An angry man was he:
O thou art young, far over young,
To sail the stormy sea.
17 'Peace, brother,' said the Child of Wynd,
'Dear brother, let me be;
For when we come to danger dire,
I must fight when you will flee.
18 'O let us build a bonny ship,
And set her in the sea;
The sails shall be of silken twine,
The masts of rowon-tree.'
19 They built a ship, the wind and tyde
Drave them along the deep;
At last they saw a stately tower,
On the rock high and steep.
20 The sea was smooth, the sky was clear;
As they approached nigher,
King Ida's castle well they knew,
And the banks of Balmburghshire.
21 The queen lookd thro her bower-window,
To see what she coud see,
And she espied a gallant ship
Come sailing along the sea.
22 She calld on her witch-women
To sink them in the main;
They hoisted up their silken sails,
And to Warren bridge they gane.
23 The worm lept up, the worm lept down,
She plaited round the stane,
And as the ship came to the land
She banged them off again.
24 The Child leapd in the shallow water
That flows oer Budle sand,
And when he drew his berry-brown sword
She suffered them to land.