| |
I
‘WILLIE, Willie, what makes you sae sad?’ | |
| And the sun shines over the valleys and a’— | |
| ‘I lie sairly sick for the love of a maid.’ | |
| Amang the blue flowers and the yellow and a’. | |
| |
II
‘O Whille, my son, I’ll learn you a wile, | 5 |
| How this pretty fair maid ye may beguile. | |
| |
III
‘Ye maun lie doun just as ye were dead, | |
| And tak’ your windin’-sheet round your head. | |
| |
IV
‘Ye maun gie the bellman his bell-groat, | |
| To ring your dead-bell at your lover’s yett.’ | 10 |
| |
V
Willie lay doun just as he war dead, | |
| And took his windin’-sheet round his head. | |
| |
VI
He gied the bellman his bell-groat | |
| To ring his dead-bell at his lover’s yett. | |
| |
VII
‘O wha is this that is dead, I hear?’— | 15 |
| ‘O wha but Willie that lo’ed ye sae dear?’ | |
| |
VIII
She is hame to her father’s ain bour: | |
| ‘I’ll gang to yon lyke-wake ae single hour.’— | |
| |
IX
‘Ye maun tak’ with you your brither John; | |
| It’s not meet for maidens to venture alone.’— | 20 |
| |
X
‘I’ll not tak’ with me my brither John, | |
| But I’ll gang along myself all alone.’ | |
| |
XI
It’s when she cam’ to her true lovers yett, | |
| She dealt the red gold round for his sak’. | |
| |
XII
It’s when she came to her true lover’s bed | 25 |
| She lifted the sheet to look at the dead. | |
| |
XIII
He’s ta’en her hand sae meek and sae sma’, | |
| [And ca’d her his wife before them a’]. | |
| |
XIV
‘Fair maid, ye cam’ without horse or boy, | |
| But I’ll send you home with a merry convoy.’ | 30 |
| | | GLOSS: yett] gate. lyke-wake] corpse-watching. |
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