26 'Comfort well your seven sons,
For comforted will I never bee;
For it was neither lord nor loune
That was in bower last night wi mee.'
B
Herd's MSS, a, I, 163; b, II, 46.
1 Clerk Saunders and a gay lady
Was walking in yonder green,
And heavy, heavy was the love
That fell this twa lovers between.
2 'A bed, a bed,' Clerk Saunders said,
'And ay a bed for you and me;'
'Never a ane,' said the gay lady,
'Till ance we twa married be.
3 'There would come a' my seven brethern,
And a' their torches burning bright,
And say, We hae but ae sister,
And behad, she's lying wi you the night.'
4 'You'll take a napkain in your hand,
And then you will tie up your een;
Then you may swear, and safe your aith,
You sawna Sandy sin yestreen.
5 'You'll take me up upo your back,
And then you'll carry me to your bed;
Then you may swear, and save your aith,
Your board [-floor] Sandy never tred.'
6 She's taen him upo her back,
And she's carried him unto her bed,
That she might swear, and safe her aith,
Her board-floor Sandy never tread.