1

"And e'en woe worth 1 ye, Jock, my man!

I paid ye well

Why pull ye out the ground wall stone,
Lets in the reek 2 to me?

"And e'en wae worth ye, Jock, my man!

For I paid ye well your hire;
Why pull ye out my ground wall stone,
To me lets in the fire?"

"Ye paid me well my hire, lady,
Ye paid me well my fee ;
But now I'm Edom o' Gordon's man,
Maun either do or die."

O then bespake her youngest son,
Sat on the nurse's knee;

"Dear mother, give over this house," he says, "For the reek it smothers me."

“I winna give up my house, my dear,

To no sic a traitor as he;

Come weel, come woe, my jewels fair,
Ye must take share with me."

O then bespake her daughter dear —
She was both jimp and small

“O row me in a pair o' sheets,

And tow me owre the wall."

They rowed her in a pair of sheets,
And towed her over the wall;
But on the point of Gordon's spear
She got a deadly fall.

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

Then wi' his spear he turned her over,
O gin her face was wan!

He said, "You are the first that e'er
I wish'd alive again."

He turned her over and over again,
O gin her skin was white!
"I might hae spared that bonnie face,
To been some man's delight.

"Busk and boun, my merry men all,
For ill dooms I do guess ;

I canna look on that bonnie face,
As it lies on the grass!"

"Who looks to freits,1 my master dear,

It's freits will follow them;

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

1 portents.

O then bespied her own dear lord,
As he came o'er the lea ;

He saw his castle all in a lowe,1
As far as he could see.

“Put on, put on, my michty men,
As fast as ye can dri’e ;

For he that is hindmost of the throng,
Shall ne'er get good o' me!"

Then some they rode, and some they ran,
Full fast out over the plain,

But long, long e'er he could get up,
They were all dead and slain.

But many were the moody 2 men,
Lay gasping on the green,

For of fifty men that Edom brought out
There were but five went home.

And many were the moody men,
Lay gasping on the green,
And many were the fair ladies

Lay lemanless at home.

And round and round the walls he went,

Their ashes for to view;

At last into the flames he fled,

And bade the world adieu.

the Witt

mont

Ih have

KINMONT WILLIE

Oh have ye not heard of the false Sakelde ?1

Oh have ye not heard of the keen Lord Scroope? How they have ta'en bold Kinmont Willie 2 On Hairibee to hang him up?

Had Willie had but twenty men,

But twenty men as stout as he,
False Sakelde had never the Kinmont taken
With eight score in his companie.

They bound his legs beneath the steed,
They tied his hands behind his back;
They guarded him fivesome on each side,
And they brought him over the Liddel rack.

They led him through the Liddel rack,
And also through the Carlisle sands;
They brought him to Carlisle Castell,
To be at my Lord Scroope's commands.

"My hands are tied, but my tongue is free, And who will dare this deed avow?

Or answer by the Border law,

Or answer to the bold Buccleuch ?"

1 Sakelde was the agent of Lord Scroope, the English Warden of the Border.

2 William Armstrong, of Kinmonth: the time of this adventure was 1596.

"Now hold thy tongue, thou rank reiver! There's never a Scot shall set ye free Before ye cross my castle-gate,

I trow ye shall take farewell of me."

;

"Fear ye not that, my lord," quoth Willie ;

66

By the faith of my body, Lord Scroope," he said,

"I never yet lodged in a hostelry

But I paid my lawing before I gaed.”1

Now word is gone to the bold Keeper,

In Branksome Hall where that he lay, That Lord Scroope has ta'en the Kinmont Willie, Between the hours of night and day.

He has ta'en the table with his hand,
He garred the red wine spring on high;
"Now a curse upon my head," he said,
"But avenged of Lord Scroope I'll be.

"Oh, is my basnet 2 a widow's kerch,3 Or my lance a wand of the willow tree, Or my arm a lady's lily hand,

That an English lord should lightly me?

"And have they ta'en him, Kinmont Willie,
Against the truce of the Border-tide,

And forgotten that the bold Buccleuch
Is Keeper here on the Scottish side?

1 went.

2 helmet.

kerchief, head covering.