The Shepherd's Daughter
THE KNIGHT AND SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER—H
[_]
Kinloch's MSS, V, 20, in the handwriting of Mr James
Beattie, 1820, and from the recitation of one of the Miss
Beatties, his aunts, native in The Mearns: also Kinloch MS.,
VII, 61, and Kinloch's Scottish Ballads, p. 25.
1
There was a shepherd's daughter,
Kept sheep on yonder hill;
There came a knight o courage bright,
And he wad have his will. Diddle, &c.
2
He's taen her by the milk-white hand,
Gien her a gown o green;
‘O take you that, fair may,’ he says,
‘There's nae mair o me to be seen.’
3
‘Since ye have taen your wills o me,
Your wills o me you've taen,
Since ye have taen your wills o me,
Pray tell to me your name.’
4
‘O some they call me Jack, lady,
And others call me John;
But when I'm in the king's court,
Sweet William is my name.’
5
She's kilted up her green clothing
A little below her knee,
And she is to the king's court,
As fast as she could gae.
6
And when she came unto the king,
She knelt low on her knee:
‘There is a man into your court
This day has robbed me.’
7
‘Has he robbd you of your gold,’ he says,
‘Or of your white monie?
Or robbd you of the flowery branch,
The flower of your bodie?’
8
‘He has not robbd me of my gold,’ she says,
‘Nor of my white monie,
But he's robbd me of the flowery branch,
The flower of my bodie.’
9
‘O if he be a bond-man,
High hanged shall he be;
But if he be a free man,
He'se well provide for thee.’
10
The king's called on his nobles all,
By thirty and by three;
Sweet William should have been the foremost man,
But the hindmost man was he.
11
‘Do you not mind yon shepherd's daughter,
You met on yonder hill?
When a' her flocks were feeding round,
Of her you took your will.’
12
And he's taen out a purse o gold,
And tied up in a glove;
‘Take you that, fair may,’ he says,
‘And choice for you a love.’
13
O he's taen out three hundred pounds,
Tied up in a purse;
‘See, take you that, fair may,’ he says,
‘And that will pay the nurse.’
14
‘I'll neither have your gold,’ she says,
‘Nor yet your white monie,
But I will have the king's grant,
That he has granted me.’
15
Then he's taen her on a milk-white steed,
Himsell upon another,
And to his castle they have rode,
Like sister and like brother.
16
O ilka nettle that they came to,
‘O well mote you grow!
For mony a day's my minny and me
Pilkit at your pow.’
17
O ilka mill that they came to,
‘O well mote you clack!
For monie a day's my minnie and me
Buckled up our lap.’
[OMITTED]
18
‘You're the king of England's ae brother,
I trust well that you be;
I'm the Earl of Stampford's ae daughter,
And he has nae mair but me.’
19
O saw you eer such a near marriage,
Between the one and the other,
The Earl of Stampford's ae daughter,
And the King of England's brother!
