[32. The Wife of Usher’s Well]
I
There lived a wife at Usher’s well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And sent them o’er the sea.
II
They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely ane,
When word came to the carline[249] wife
That her three sons were gane.
III
They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely three,
When word came to the carline wife
That her sons she’d never see.
IV
‘I wish the wind may never cease,
Nor fashes[250] in the flood,
Till my three sons come hame to me
In earthly flesh and blood!’