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. 
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionVIII. 
collapse sectionIX. 
expand section266. 
expand section267. 
expand section268. 
expand section269. 
expand section270. 
expand section271. 
expand section272. 
expand section273. 
expand section274. 
expand section275. 
expand section276. 
expand section277. 
collapse section278. 
  
  
expand section279. 
expand section280. 
expand section281. 
expand section282. 
expand section283. 
expand section284. 
expand section285. 
expand section286. 
expand section287. 
expand section288. 
expand section289. 
expand section290. 
expand section291. 
expand section292. 
expand section293. 
expand section294. 
expand section295. 
expand section296. 
expand section297. 
expand section298. 
expand section299. 
expand section300. 
expand section301. 
expand section302. 
expand section303. 
expand section304. 
expand section305. 

LADY MAISRY—F

[_]

The Scots [Edinburgh] Magazine, 1822, LXXXIX, 734, communicated by W. W.

1

Fair Marjory's gaen into the school,
Between six and seven,
An she's come back richt big wi bairn,
Between twalve and eleven.

2

It's out then sprung her mither dear,
Stood stately on the flure:
‘Ye're welcum back, young Marjory,
But ye're sune becum a hure.’

3

‘I'm not a hure, mither,’ she said,
‘Nor ever intend to be;
But I'm wi child to a gentleman,
An he swears he'll marry me.’

4

[It's out then sprung her father dear,
Stood stately on the flure:
‘Ye're welcum back, young Marjory,
But ye're sune becum a hure.’

5

‘I'm not a hure, father,’ she said,
‘Nor ever intend to be;
But I'm wi child to a gentleman,
An he swears he will marry me.’

6

It's out then sprung her brother dear,
Stood stately on the flure:
‘Ye're welcum back, young Marjory,
But ye're sune becum a hure.’

7

‘I'm not a hure, brother,’ she said,
‘Nor ever intend to be;
But I'm wi child to a gentleman,
An he swears he will marry me.’

8

It's out then sprung her sister dear,
Stood stately on the flure:
‘Ye're welcum back, young Marjory,
But ye're sune becum a hure.’

9

‘I'm not a hure, sister,’ she said,
‘Nor ever intend to be;]
Ye're but a young woman, sister,
An ye shuld speak sparinlie.’

10

Her father's to the grene-wude gaen,
Her brither's to the brume;

121

An her mither sits in her gowden chair,
To see her dochter burn.
[OMITTED]

11

[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
The sister she culd do naething,
And she sat down to greet.

12

‘Oh whare will I get a bonny boy,
That wull win hose an shoon,
That wull rin to Strawberry Castle for me,
And bid my true-love come?’

13

It's out than spak a bonny boy,
That stude richt at her knee:
‘It's I wull rin your errand, ladie,
Wi the saut tear i my ee.’

14

It's whan he cam to broken brigg,
He bent his bow an swam,
An whan he cam whare green grass grew,
Set doon his feet an ran.

15

An whan he cam to Strawberry Castle,
He thirled at the pin,
An aye sae ready as the porter was
To rise and let him in.
[OMITTED]

16

‘Gae saddle to me the black,’ he says,
‘Gae saddle to me the broun;
Gae saddle to me the swiftest steed
That eer set fute on grun.’

17

It's first he burst the bonny black,
An syne the bonny broun,
But the dapple-gray rade still away,
Till he cam to the toun.

18

An aye he rade, an aye he rade,
An aye away he flew,
Till the siller buttons flew off his coat;
He took out his horn an blew.

19

An aye he blew, an aye he blew,
He blew baith loud an shrill,
An the little life that Marjory had,
She heard his horn blaw weel.

20

‘Beik on, beik on, cruel mither,’ she said,
‘For I value you not a straw;
For if ever I heard my love in my life,
He's comin here awa.’
[OMITTED]

21

When he cam unto the flames
He jamp in, butes and a';
He thocht to hae kissd her red rosy lips,
But her body broke in twa.
[OMITTED]

22

I'll burn for thy sake, Marjory,
The toun that thou lies in;
An I'll mak the baby fatherless,
For I'll throw mysel therein.