The English and Scottish Popular Ballads :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 3 a, Abbotsford. Sent Scott September 11, 1802, by William Laidlaw; received by him from Mr Bartram of Biggar.

1

I will sing, if ye will harken,
An ye wad listen unto me;
I'll tell ye of a merry passage
Of the wanton laird of Young Logie.

2

Young Logie's laid in Edinborough chapel,
Carmichaell's keeper of the key;
I heard a may lamenting sair,
All for the laird of Young Logie.

3

‘Lament, lament na, May Margret,
And o your weeping let me be;
For ye maun to the king your sell,
And ask the life of Young Logie.’

4

May Margaret has kilted her green cleeding,
And she's currld back her yellow hair,
And she's away to the king hersell,
And adieu to Scotland for ever mair!

5

When she came before the king,
She fell low down on her knee:
‘It's what's your will wi me, May Margret,
And what makes all this courtesey?’
‘Naething, naething, my sovreign liege,
But grant me the life of Young Logie.’

6

‘O no, O no, May Margret,
No, in sooth it maun na be;
For the morn, or I taste meat or drink,
Hee hanged shall Young Logie be.’

7

She has stolen the king's reeding-comb,
But an the queen her wedding-knife,
And she has sent it to Carmichaell,
To cause Young Logie come by life.

8

She sent him a purse of the red gold,
Another of the white money,
And sent him a pistol into each hand,
And bade him shoot when he got fra.

9

When he came to the Tolbooth stair,
There he loot his volley flee,
Which made the king in his chamber start,
Even in the chamber where he lay.

10

‘Gae out, gae out, my merrie men,
And gar Carmichael come speake wi me,
For I'll lay my life the pledge of that,
That yon's the volley of Young Logie.’

11

When Carmichael came before the king,
He fell low down on his knee;
The very first word that the king spake,
‘How dois the laird o Young Logie?’

12

Carmichael turnd him round about,
A wait the salt tear blint his eye:
‘There came a tacken frae the king
Has tean the laird awa frae me.’

13

‘Hast thou playd me that, Carmichael?
Hast thou playd me that?’ quo he;
‘The morn the Justice Court's to stand,
And Logie's place ye maun supply.’

14

Carmichal's awa to May Margr[e]t's bower,
Een as fast as he may dree:
‘It's if Young Logie be within,
Tell him to come speak to me.’

15

May Margret's turnd her round about,
A wait a loud laughter gae she:
‘The egg is cheeped and the bird is flown,
And seek ye the laird of Young Logie.’

16

The one is sheppd at the pier o Leith,
The other at the Queen's Ferry,
And she has gotten a father to her bairn,
The wanton laird of Young [Logie].