The English and Scottish Popular Ballads :: :: University of Virginia Library

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Leyden's Glossary to The Complaynt of Scotland, p. 371.

O cam ye in by the House o Rodes,
Or cam ye there away?
Or have [ye] seen Johne Tamson?
They say his wife has run away.

[OMITTED]

‘O what wad ye do, Johne Tamson,
Gin ye had me as I hae thee?’
‘I wad tak ye to the gude green-wood,
And gar your ain hand weil the tree.’

[OMITTED]

Johne Tamson peeped and poorly spake
Untill he did his ain men see;
‘O by my sooth,’ quo Johne Tamson,
‘Methinks I see a coming tree.’

[OMITTED]

And they hae hanged that grim Soudan,
For a' his mirth and meikle pride,
And sae hae they that ill woman,
Upon a scrogg-bush him beside.