Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Volume 2 (of 3) / Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, Collected in the Southern Counties of Scotland; with a Few of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition

by Walter Scott

And he has gane to Durrisdeer

To hunt the dun deer down.

As he came down by Merriemass,

And in by the benty line,

There has he espied a deer lying

Aneath a bush of ling.[^[A]]

Johnie he shot, and the dun deer lap,

And he wounded her on the side;

But, atween the water and the brae,

His hounds they laid her pride.