University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
collapse sectionVII. 
expand section189. 
expand section190. 
expand section191. 
expand section192. 
expand section193. 
expand section194. 
expand section195. 
expand section196. 
expand section197. 
expand section198. 
expand section199. 
expand section200. 
expand section201. 
expand section202. 
expand section203. 
collapse section204. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section205. 
expand section206. 
expand section207. 
expand section208. 
expand section209. 
expand section210. 
expand section211. 
expand section212. 
expand section213. 
expand section214. 
expand section215. 
expand section216. 
expand section217. 
expand section218. 
expand section219. 
expand section220. 
expand section221. 
expand section222. 
expand section223. 
expand section224. 
expand section225. 
expand sectionVIII. 
expand sectionIX. 

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.