XVIII

‘Ye paid me weel my hire, ladye,
Ye paid me weel my fee:
But now I’m Edom o’ Gordon’s man,
Maun either do or dee.’

XIX

O then bespake her little son,
Sat on the nurse’s knee:
Says, ‘Mither dear, gie owre this house,
For the reek it smithers me.’—

XX

‘I wad gie a’ my gowd, my bairn,
Sae wad I a’ my fee,
For ae blast o’ the western wind,
To blaw the reek frae thee.’

XXI

O then bespake her dochter dear—
She was baith jimp[481] and sma’:
‘O row[482] me in a pair o’ sheets,
And tow me owre the wa’!’

XXII

They row’d her in a pair o’ sheets,
And tow’d her owre the wa’;
But on the point o’ Gordon’s spear
She gat a deadly fa’.