16 About the middle o the night
The cocks began to craw,
And at the dead hour o the night
The corpse began to thraw.
17 'O wha has done the wrang, sister,
Or dared the deadly sin?
Wha was sae stout, and feared nae dout,
As thraw ye oer the linn?'
18 'Young Benjie was the first ae man
I laid my love upon;
He was sae stout and proud-hearted,
He threw me oer the linn.'
19 'Sall we Young Benjie head, sister?
Sall we Young Benjie hang?
Or sall we pike out his twa gray een,
And punish him ere he gang?'
20 'Ye mauna Benjie head, brothers,
Ye mauna Benjie hang,
But ye maun pike out his twa gray een,
And punish him ere he gang.
21 'Tie a green gravat round his neck,
And lead him out and in,
And the best ae servant about your house
To wait Young Benjie on.
22 'And ay, at every seven year's end,
Ye'll tak him to the linn;
For that's the penance he maun drie,
To scug his deadly sin.'
B
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 265.
1 'O come along wi me, brother,
Now come along wi me;
And we'll gae seek our sister Maisry,
Into the water o Dee.'