Sir Andro Wood
SIR PATRICK SPENS—D
[_]
Motherwell's MS., p. 496, communicated by Kirkpatrick
Sharpe.
1
The king sits in Dumferling town,
Drinking the blood red wine: O
‘Where will I get a good skipper,
To sail seven ships o mine?’ O
Where will, etc.
2
O up then spake a bra young man,
And a bra young man was he:
‘Sir Andrew Wood is the best skipper
That ever saild the sea.’
3
The king has written a bra letter,
And seald it wi his hand,
And ordered Sir Andrew Wood
To come at his command.
4
‘O wha is this, or wha is that,
Has tauld the king o me?
For had he been a better man,
He might ha tauld a lee.’
[OMITTED]
5
As I came in by the Inch, Inch, Inch,
I heard an auld man weep:
‘Sir Andrew Wood and a' his men
Are drowned in the deep!’
6
O lang lang may yon ladies stand,
Their fans into their hands,
Before they see Sir Andrew Wood
Come sailing to dry land.
7
O laith laith were our Scottish lords
To weit their cork-heeld shoon;
But ere that a' the play was plaid,
They wat their heads aboon.
8
Nore-east, nore-west frae Aberdeen
Is fifty fathom deep,
And there lies good Sir Andrew Wood,
And a' the Scottish fleet.
