7

"Gin I had a husband, as I hac nane,

He wadna lie in his bower, see his kye ta'en."

8 Then up got the baron, and cried for his graith; Says, "Lady, I'll gang, tho' to leave you I'm laith.

9 "Come kiss me, then, Peggy, and gie me my spear; I ay was for peace, though I never fear'd weir.

IO

"Come kiss me, then, Peggy, nor think I'm to blame; I weel may gae out, but I'll never win in!”

11 When Brackley was busked, and rade o'er the closs, A gallanter baron ne'er lap to a horse.

12 When Brackley was mounted, and rade o'er the green, He was as bold a baron as ever was seen.

13 Tho' there cam' wi' Inverey thirty-and-three, There was nane wi' bonny Brackley but his brother and he.

14 Twa gallanter Gordons did never sword draw;
But against four-and-thirty, wae's me, what is twa?

15 Wi' swords and wi' daggers they did him surround; And they've pierced bonny Brackley wi' mony a wound.

16 Frae the head o' the Dee to the banks o' the Spey The Gordons may mourn him, and bann Inverey.

17 "O came ye by Brackley yates, was ye in there? Or saw ye his Peggy dear riving her hair?"

18 "O I came by Brackley yates, I was in there, And I saw his Peggy a-making good cheer."

19 That lady she feasted them, carried them ben; She laugh'd wi' the men that her baron had slain.

20 "O fie on you, lady! how could you do sae? You open'd your yates to the fause Inverey."

21 She ate wi' him, drank wi' him, welcom'd him in; She welcom'd the villain that slew her baron!

22 She kept him till morning, syne bade him be gane, And shaw'd him the road, that he shou’dna be ta’en.

23 "Thro' Birss and Aboyne," she says, "lyin' in a tour, O'er the hills o' Glentanar you'll skip in an hour."

24 There's grief in the kitchen, and mirth in the ha'; But the Baron o' Brackley is dead and awa.

BONNY GEORGE CAMPBELL

VERSION B

I SADDLED and bridled

And booted rade he;
Toom hame cam the saddle,
But never cam he.

2 Down cam his auld mither,
Greetin' fu' sair,

And down cam his bonny wife,
Wringin' her hair.

3 Saddled and bridled

And booted rade he;

Toom hame cam the saddle,
But never cam he.

THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY

I YE Highlands, and ye Lawlands,
Oh where have ye been?

They have slain the Earl of Murray,
And they laid him on the green.

2 "Now wae be to thee, Huntly!
And wherefore did you sae?
I bade you bring him wi' you,
But forbade you him to slay."

3 He was a braw gallant,

And he rid at the ring;

And the bonny Earl of Murray,
Oh he might have been a king!

4 He was a braw gallant,

And he played at the ba';
And the bonny Earl of Murray
Was the flower among them a'.

He was a braw gallant,

And he played at the glove; And the bonny Earl of Murray,

Oh he was the Queen's love!

6 Oh lang will his lady

Look o'er the castle Down,

Ere she sees the Earl of Murray
Come sounding thro' the town!
Ere she, etc.

JOHNIE COCK

From Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Copyright, 1898, Elizabeth Sedgwick Child. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

I JOHNIE he has risen up i' the morn,
Calls for water to wash his hands;

But little he knew that his bloody hounds
Were bound in iron bands, bands,

Were bound in iron bands.

2 Johnie's mother has gotten word o' that,
And care-bed she has ta'en;

"O Johnie, for my benison,

I beg you'll stay at hame;

For the wine so red, and the well baken bread,
My Johnie shall want nane.

"There are seven forsters at Pickeram Side,
At Pickeram where they dwell,
And for a drop of thy heart's bluid
They wad ride the fords of hell."

4 Johnie he's gotten word of that,
And he's turn'd wondrous keen;
He's put off the red scarlett,

And he's put on the Lincolm green.

5 With a sheaf of arrows by his side, And a bent bow in his hand, He's mounted on a prancing steed,

And he's ridden fast o'er the strand.

6 He's up i' Braidhouplee, and down i' Bradyslee,
And under a buss o' broom,

And there he found a good dun deer,
Feeding in a buss of ling.

7 Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap,
And she lap wondrous wide,

Until they came to the wan water,
And he stemm'd her of her pride.

8 He 'as ta'en out the little pen-knife,
'T was full three quarters long,
And he has ta'en out of that dun deer
The liver but and the tongue.

9 They eat of the flesh, and they drank of the blood, And the blood it was so sweet,

Which caused Johnie and his bloody hounds
To fall in a deep sleep.

10 By then came an old palmer,

And an ill death may he die! For he's away to Pickram Side,

As fast as he can drie.

II "What news, what news?" says the Seven Forsters,

"What news have ye brought to me?"

"I have no news," the palmer said,

"But what I saw with my eye.