THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS—I
[_]
“Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No
127, Abbotsford. Sent to John Leyden, by whom and when
does not appear.
1
‘Hold your tongue, Lord Judge,’ she says,
‘Yet hold it a little while;
Methinks I see my ain dear father
Coming wandering many a mile.
2
‘O have you brought me gold, father?
Or have you brought me fee?
Or are you come to save my life
From off this gallows-tree?’
3
‘I have not brought you gold, daughter,
Nor have I brought you fee,
But I am come to see you hangd,
As you this day shall be.’
[_]
[“The verses run thus untill she has seen her mother,
her brother, and her sister likewise arrive, and then
Methinks I see my ain dear lover, etc.”]
4
‘I have not brought you gold, true-love,
Nor yet have I brought fee,
But I am come to save thy life
From off this gallows-tree.’
5
‘Gae hame, gae hame, father,’ she says,
‘Gae hame and saw yer seed;
And I wish not a pickle of it may grow up,
But the thistle and the weed.
6
‘Gae hame, gae hame, gae hame, mother,
Gae hame and brew yer yill;
And I wish the girds may a' loup off,
And the Deil spill a' yer yill.
7
‘Gae hame, gae hame, gae hame, brother,
Gae hame and lie with yer wife;
And I wish that the first news I may hear
That she has tane your life.
8
‘Gae hame, gae hame, sister,’ she says,
‘Gae hame and sew yer seam;
I wish that the needle-point may break,
And the craws pyke out yer een.’
