So deeply did the tragic result of Flodden touch the hearts of the Scottish people that no Scot could for many a long day hear it mentioned without a heart-thrill.
Many are the songs written about it, the most famous perhaps, being the "Flowers of the Forest," written two centuries later, though partly founded upon an older and almost forgotten song.
THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST
I've heard them lilting, at our ewe-milking,
Lasses a' lilting, before dawn o' day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning[#]
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
[#] a broad grassy lane used as milking-ground.
At bughts, in the morning, nae blythe lads are scorning;[#]
The lasses are lonely, and dowie, and wae;
Wae daffing,[#] nae gabbing,[#] but sighing and sabbing;
Ilk ane lifts her leglin,[#] and hies her away.
[#] rallying.
[#] joking.
[#] chatting.
[#] milking-pail.
In hair'st, at the shearing, nae youths now are jeering,
The bandsters[#] are runkled,[#] and lyart[#] or gray;
At fair, or at preaching, nae wooing, nae fleeching;[#]
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
[#] sheaf-binders.
[#] wrinkled.
[#] inclining to grey.
[#] coaxing.
At e'en, in the gloaming, nae younkers are roaming
'Bout stacks with the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk maid sits dreary, lamenting her deary—
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
Dool and wae for the order, sent our lads to the Border!
The English, for ance, by guile wan the day:
The Flowers of the Forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The prime of our land, are cauld in the clay.
We'll hear nae mair lilting at the ewe-milking;
Women and bairns are heartless and wae:
Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning—
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
JEAN ELLIOT (1727-1805).