The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edited by Francis James Child. |
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 | The English and Scottish Popular Ballads |  |
Earl Robert
PRINCE ROBERT—B
[_]
Motherwell's MS. p. 149,; Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p. 200: from the recitation of Mrs Thomson, Kilbarchan, a native of Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, aged betwixt sixty and seventy.
1
It's fifty miles to Sittingen's Rocks,As eer was ridden or gane;
And Earl Robert has wedded a wife,
But he dare na bring her hame.
And Earl Robert has wedded a wife,
But he dare na bring her hame.
2
His mother, she called to her waiting-maid,To bring her a pint o wine:
‘For I dinna weel ken what hour of the day
That my son Earl Robert shall dine.’
3
She's put it to her fause, fause cheek,But an her fause, fause chin;
She's put it to her fause, fause lips,
But never a drap went in.
4
But he's put it to his bonny cheek,Aye and his bonny chin;
He's put it to his red rosy lips,
And the poison went merrily doun.
5
‘O where will I get a bonny boy,That will win hose and shoon,
That will gang quickly to Sittingen's Rocks,
And bid my lady come?’
6
It's out then speaks a bonny boy,To Earl Robert was something akin:
‘Many a time have I ran thy errand,
But this day wi the tears I'll rin.’
7
Bat when he came to Sittingin's Rocks,To the middle of a' the ha,
There were bells a ringing, and music playing,
And ladies dancing a'.
8
‘What news, what news, my bonny boy?What news have ye to me?
Is Earl Robert in very good health,
And the ladies of your countrie?’
9
‘O Earl Robert's in very good health,And as weel as a man can be;
But his mother this night has a drink to be druken,
And at it you must be.’
286
10
She called to her waiting-maid,To bring her a riding-weed,
And she called to her stable-groom,
To saddle her milk-white steed.
11
But when she came to Earl Robert's bouir,To the middle of a' the ha,
There were bells a ringing, and sheets doun hinging,
And ladies mourning a'.
12
‘I've come for none of his gold,’ she said,‘Nor none of his white monie,
Excepting a ring of his smallest finger,
If that you will grant me.’
13
‘Thou'll not get none of his gold,’ she said,‘Nor none of his white monie;
Thou'll not get a ring of his smallest finger,
Tho thy heart should break in three.’
14
She set her foot unto a stane,Her back unto a tree;
She set her foot unto a stane,
And her heart did break in three.
15
The one was buried in Mary's kirk,The other in Mary's quire;
Out of the one there grew a birk,
From the other a bonnie brier.
16
And these twa grew, and these twa threw,Till their twa craps drew near;
So all the warld may plainly see
That they loved each other dear.
| The English and Scottish Popular Ballads | |