16 And it fell once upon a day
A playtime it was come,
And when the rest went from the school,
Each one to their own home,
17 He hied him unto good green-wood,
And leapt from tree to tree;
It was to pull a hollin wand,
To play his ownself wi.
18 And when he thus had passed his time,
To go home he was fain,
He chanced to meet him Hind Henry,
Where his mother was slain.
19 'O how is this,' the youth cried out,
'If it to you is known,
How all this wood is growing grass,
And on that small spot grows none?'
20 'Since you do wonder, bonnie boy,
I shall tell you anon;
That is indeed the very spot
I killed your mother in.'
21 He catched hold of Henry's brand,
And stroked it ower a strae,
And thro and thro Hind Henry's sides
He made the cauld metal gae.
22 Says, Take you that, O Hind Henry,
O take you that from me,
For killing of my mother dear,
And her not hurting thee.
C
Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 231.
1 When spring appeard in all its bloom,
And flowers grew fresh and green,
As May-a-Roe she set her down,
To lay gowd on her seam.