Imatges de pàgina
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"Gie owre your house, ye lady fair,
Gie owre your house to me;
Or I sall burn yoursell therein,
But and your babies three."

UNKNOWN.

"I winna gie owre, ye fause Gordon,
To nae sic traitor as thee;
And if ye burn my ain dear babes,
My lord sall mak' ye dree.

"Now reach my pistol, Glaud, my man,
And charge ye weel my gun;
For, but an I pierce that bluidy butcher,
My babes, we been undone !"

She stood upon her castle wa',

And let twa bullets flee:

She missed that bluidy butcher's heart, And only razed his knee.

"Set fire to the house!" quo' fause Gordon, Wud wi' dule and ire: "Fause ladye, ye sall rue that shot As ye burn in the fire!"

"Wae worth, wae worth ye, Jock, my man! I paid ye weel your fee;

Why pu' ye out the grund-wa' stane,
Lets in the reek to me?

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But on the point o' Gordon's spear
She gat a deadly fa'.

O bonnie, bonnie was her mouth,
And cherry were her cheeks,
And clear, clear was her yellow hair,
Whereon the red blood dreeps.

23

Then wi' his spear he turned her owre;
O gin her face was wan!
He said, "Ye are the first that e'er
I wished alive again."

He cam' and lookit again at her;
O gin her skin was white!
"I might hae spared that bonnie face
To hae been some man's delight."

"Busk and boun, my merry men a',
For ill dooms I do guess;-

I cannot look on that bonnie face
As it lies on the grass."

"Wha looks to freits, my master dear, Its freits will follow them;

Let it ne'er be said that Edom o' Gordon Was daunted by a dame."

But when the ladye saw the fire
Come flaming o'er her head,
She wept, and kissed her children twain,
Says, "Bairns, we been but dead."

The Gordon then his bugle blew,

And said, "Awa', awa'!

This house o' the Rodes is a' in a flame; I hauld it time to ga'."

And this way lookit her ain dear lord,
As he came owre the lea;

He saw his castle a' in a lowe,
Sae far as he could see.

"Put on, put on, my wighty men,
As fast as ye can dri'e!

For he that's hindmost o' the thrang
Sall ne'er get good o' me."

Then some they rade, and some they ran,
Out-owre the grass and bent;
But ere the foremost could win up,
Baith lady and babes were brent.

And after the Gordon he is gane,
Sae fast as he might dri'e;
And soon i' the Gordon's foul heart's blude
He's wroken his fair ladye.

UNKNOWN.

TAKE THY AULD CLOAK ABOUT THEE,

IN winter, when the rain rained cauld, And frost and snow were on the hill, And Boreas with his blasts sae bâuld

Was threat'ning all our kye to kill; Then Bell, my wife, wha loves not strife, She said to me right hastilie, "Get up, gudeman, save Crummie's life, And take thy auld cloak about thee!

"Cow Crummie is a useful cow,

And she is come of a good kin'; Aft has she wet the bairnies' mou',

And I am laith that she should pine: Get up, gudeman, it is fu' time!

The sun shines frae the lift sae hie; Sloth never made a gracious end,

Gae, take thy auld cloak about thee!"

"My cloak was once a gude gray cloak, When it was fitting for my wear; But now it's scantly worth a groat,

For I hae worn 't this thirty year: Let's spend the gear that we hae won, We little ken the day we 'll dee; Then I'll be proud, since I hae sworn To hae a new cloak about me.

"In days when our King Robert reigned, His breeches cost but half a crown; He said they were a groat too dear,

And ca'd the tailor thief and loun. He was the king that wore the crown, And thou the man of low degree: It's pride puts a' the country down,

Sae take thy auld cloak about thee!"

"O Bell, my wife, why dost thou flout?
Now is now, and then was then.
Seek anywhere the world throughout,
Thou ken'st not clowns from gentle-

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Then by there came twa gentlemen
At twelve o'clock at night;
And they could neither see house nor
hall,

Nor coal nor candle light.

And first they ate the white puddings,
And then they ate the black;
Though muckle thought the gudewife to
hersel',

Yet ne'er a word she spak'.

Then said the one unto the other,

"Here, man, tak' ye my knife!

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