"Yet, gin you're sure that you're a maid,
"Ye may gae safely to his bed;
"But gif o' that ye be na sure,
"Then hire some damsell o' your bour."
The ladye's called her bour maiden,
That waiting was into her train;
"Five thousand merks I'll gie to thee,
"To sleep this night with my lord for me."
When bells were rung, and mass was sayne,
And a' men unto bed were gane,
Cospatrick and the bonny maid,
Into ae chamber they were laid.
"Now, speak to me, blankets, and speak to me, bed,
"And speak, thou sheet, enchanted web;
"And speak up, my bonny brown sword, that winna lie,
"Is this a true maiden that lies by me?"
"It is not a maid that you hae wedded,
"But it is a maid that you hae bedded;
"It is a leal maiden that lies by thee,
"But not the maiden that it should be."
O wrathful he left the bed,
And wrathfully his claiths on did;
And he has ta'en him through the ha',
And on his mother he did ca'.
"I am the most unhappy man,
"That ever was in christen land!
"I courted a maiden, meik and mild,
"And I hae gotten naething but a woman wi' child."
"O stay, my son, into this ha',
"And sport ye wi' your merrymen a';
"And I will to the secret bour,
"To see how it fares wi' your paramour."
The carline she was stark and sture,
She aff the hinges dang the dure;
"O is your bairn to laird or loun,
"Or is it to your father's groom?"
"O! hear me, mother, on my knee,
"Till my sad story I tell thee:
"O we were sisters, sisters seven,
"We were the fairest under heaven.