4 'Oh still my babe, nourrice,
still him wi the knife:'
'He'll no be still, madam,
na, no for my life.'
5 'Oh still my babe, still my babe,
still him wi the bell:'
'He'll no be still, madam,
till ye come down yoursel.'
6 'How can I come down,
this cold frosty night?
I have neither coal nor candle,
for to show me light!'
* * * * *
7 'O haud your tongue, nourrice,
sae loud as ye lee;
Ye'd neer a cut finger
but I pitied thee.'
[95. Maid Freed from the Gallows.]
P. [349] b. Add: Antonovitch and Dragomanof, Historical Songs of the Little-Russian People, Kief, 1874, I, 102, No 34; Chodzko, Les Chants historiques de l'Ukraine, p. 72. A Cossack writes to his father from prison, begging to be ransomed. 'How much?' asks the father. 'Eight oxen to every house, with their plows.' If he must give so much, the son will have to die. The son writes to his mother. 'How much do they ask?' 'Eight milch-cows, with their calves.' At that rate he will have to die. He writes to his love. 'How much must be paid?' 'Seven hundred ducks from each house.' She would rather part with all she has than let him die.
[100. Willie o Winsbury.]
P. [398]. This copy, J, which resembles D, was communicated by Mr Macmath as derived, September 13, 1886, from his aunt, Miss Jane Webster, who learned it above fifty years ago at Airds of Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire, from the singing of Samuel Galloway. "Barborough may be spelt Barburgh, Barbara, or even, perhaps, Barbary."
1 There was a lass in the North Countrie,
And her clothing it was the green,
And she's looked ower her father's castle-wa,
For to see her father's ships sail in, in,
For to see her father's ships on sea.