3 'Come to my arms, my dear Willie,
You're welcome hame to me;
To best o chear and charcoal red,
And candle burnin free.'
4 'I winna light, I darena light,
Nor come to your arms at a';
A fairer maid than ten o you
I'll meet at Castle-law.'
5 'A fairer maid than me, Willie?
A fairer maid than me?
A fairer maid than ten o me
Your eyes did never see.'
6 He louted owr his saddle-lap
To kiss her ere they part,
And wi a little keen bodkin,
She pierced him to the heart.
7 'Ride on, ride on, Lord William now,
As fast as ye can dree;
Your bonny lass at Castle-law
Will weary you to see.'
8 Out up then spake a bonny bird,
Sat high upon a tree:
'How could you kill that noble lord?
He came to marry thee.'
9 'Come down, come down, my bonny bird,
And eat bread aff my hand;
Your cage shall be of wiry goud,
Whar now it's but the wand.'
10 'Keep ye your cage o goud, lady,
And I will keep my tree;
As ye hae done to Lord William,
Sae wad ye do to me.'
11 She set her foot on her door-step,
A bonny marble stane,
And carried him to her chamber,
Oer him to make her mane.
12 And she has kept that good lord's corpse
Three quarters of a year,
Until that word began to spread;
Then she began to fear.