21 'O scour the bason, nourice,
and mak it fair and clean,
For to keep this lady's heart's blood,
for she's come o noble kin.'
22 'There need nae bason, Lamkin,
lat it run through the floor;
What better is the heart's blood
o the rich than o the poor?'
23 But ere three months were at an end,
Lord Wearie came again;
But dowie, dowie was his heart
when first he came hame.
24 'O wha's blood is this,' he says,
'that lies in the chamer?'
'It is your lady's heart's blood;
'tis as clear as the lamer.'
25 'And wha's blood is this,' he says,
'that lies in my ha?'
'It is your young son's heart's blood;
'tis the clearest ava.'
26 O sweetly sang the black-bird
that sat upon the tree;
But sairer grat Lamkin,
when he was condemnd to die.
27 And bonny sang the mavis,
out o the thorny brake;
But sairer grat the nourice,
when she was tied to the stake.
B
Motherwell's MS., p. 15; from the recitation of Mrs Thomson, Kilbarchan, February 25, 1825.
1 Balankin was as gude a mason
as eer picked a stane;
He built up Prime Castle,
but payment gat nane.