{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch015.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch015.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch015.htm","text":"15A.1 MY boy was scarcely ten years auld,\nWhan he went to an unco land,\nWhere wind never blew, nor cocks ever crew,\nOhon for my son, Leesome Brand!\n15A.2 Awa to that king\u2019s court he went,\nIt was to serve for meat an fee;\nGude red gowd it was his hire,\nAnd lang in that king\u2019s court stayd he.\n15A.3 He hadna been in that unco land\nBut only twallmonths twa or three,\nTill by the glancing o his ee,\nHe gaind the love o a gay ladye.\n15A.4 This ladye was scarce eleven years auld,\nWhen on her love she was right bauld;\nShe was scarce up to my right knee,\nWhen oft in bed wi men I\u2019m tauld.\n15A.5 But when nine months were come and gane,\nThis ladye\u2019s face turnd pale and wane.\n15A.6 To Leesome Brand she then did say,\n\u2018In this place I can nae mair stay.\n15A.7 \u2018Ye do you to my father\u2019s stable,\nWhere steeds do stand baith wight and able.\n15A.8 \u2018Strike ane o them upo the back,\nThe swiftest will gie his head a wap.\n15A.9 \u2018Ye take him out upo the green,\nAnd get him saddled and bridled seen.\n15A.10 \u2018Get ane for you, anither for me,\nAnd lat us ride out ower the lee.\n15A.11 \u2018Ye do you to my mother\u2019s coffer,\nAnd out of it ye\u2019ll take my tocher.\n15A.12 \u2018Therein are sixty thousand pounds,\nWhich all to me by right belongs.\u2019\n15A.13 He\u2019s done him to her father\u2019s stable,\nWhere steeds stood baith wicht and able.\n15A.14 Then he strake ane upon the back,\nThe swiftest gae his head a wap.\n15A.15 He\u2019s taen him out upo the green,\nAnd got him saddled and bridled seen.\n15A.16 Ane for him, and another for her,\nTo carry them baith wi might and virr.\n15A.17 He\u2019s done him to her mother\u2019s coffer,\nAnd there he\u2019s taen his love\u2019s tocher;\n15A.18 Wherein were sixty thousand pound,\nWhich all to her by right belongd.\n15A.19 When they had ridden about six mile,\nHis true love then began to fail.\n15A.20 \u2018O wae\u2019s me,\u2019 said that gay ladye,\n\u2018I fear my back will gang in three!\n15A.21 \u2018O gin I had but a gude midwife,\nHere this day to save my life,\n15A.22 \u2018And ease me o my misery,\nO dear, how happy I would be!\u2019\n15A.23 \u2018My love, we\u2019re far frae ony town,\nThere is nae midwife to be foun.\n15A.24 \u2018But if ye\u2019ll be content wi me,\nI\u2019ll do for you what man can dee.\u2019\n15A.25 \u2018For no, for no, this maunna be,\u2019\nWi a sigh, replied this gay ladye.\n15A.26 \u2018When I endure my grief and pain,\nMy companie ye maun refrain.\n15A.27 \u2018Ye\u2019ll take your arrow and your bow,\nAnd ye will hunt the deer and roe.\n15A.28 \u2018Be sure ye touch not the white hynde,\nFor she is o the woman kind.\u2019\n15A.29 He took sic pleasure in deer and roe,\nTill he forgot his gay ladye.\n15A.30 Till by it came that milk-white hynde,\nAnd then he mind on his ladye syne.\n15A.31 He hasted him to yon greenwood tree,\nFor to relieve his gay ladye;\n15A.32 But found his ladye lying dead,\nLikeways her young son at her head.\n15A.33 His mother lay ower her castle wa,\nAnd she beheld baith dale and down;\nAnd she beheld young Leesome Brand,\nAs he came riding to the town.\n15A.34 \u2018Get minstrels for to play,\u2019 she said,\n\u2018And dancers to dance in my room;\nFor here comes my son, Leesome Brand,\nAnd he comes merrilie to the town.\u2019\n15A.35 \u2018Seek nae minstrels to play, mother,\nNor dancers to dance in your room;\nBut tho your son comes, Leesome Brand,\nYet he comes sorry to the town.\n15A.36 \u2018O I hae lost my gowden knife;\nI rather had lost my ain sweet life!\n15A.37 \u2018And I hae lost a better thing,\nThe gilded sheath that it was in.\u2019\n15A.38 \u2018Are there nae gowdsmiths here in Fife,\nCan make to you anither knife?\n15A.39 \u2018Are there nae sheath-makers in the land,\nCan make a sheath to Leesome Brand?\u2019\n15A.40 \u2018There are nae gowdsmiths here in Fife,\nCan make me sic a gowden knife;\n15A.41 \u2018Nor nae sheath-makers in the land,\nCan make to me a sheath again.\n15A.42 \u2018There ne\u2019er was man in Scotland born,\nOrdaind to be so much forlorn.\n15A.43 \u2018I\u2019ve lost my ladye I lovd sae dear,\nLikeways the son she did me bear.\u2019\n15A.44 \u2018Put in your hand at my bed head,\nThere ye\u2019ll find a gude grey horn;\nIn it three draps o\u2019 Saint Paul\u2019s ain blude,\nThat hae been there sin he was born.\n15A.45 \u2018Drap twa o them o your ladye,\nAnd ane upo your little young son;\nThen as lively they will be\nAs the first night ye brought them hame.\u2019\n15A.46 He put his hand at her bed head,\nAnd there he found a gude grey horn,\nWi three draps o\u2019 Saint Paul\u2019s ain blude,\nThat had been there sin he was born.\n15A.47 Then he drappd twa on his ladye,\nAnd ane o them on his young son,\nAnd now they do as lively be,\nAs the first day he brought them hame.\n15B: Leesom Brand\n15B.1 \u2018THERE is a feast in your father\u2019s house,\nRefrain: The broom blooms bonnie and so is it fair\nIt becomes you and me to be very douce.\nRefrain: And we\u2019ll never gang up to the broom nae mair\n15B.2 \u2018You will go to yon hill so hie;\nTake your bow and your arrow wi thee.\u2019\n15B.3 He\u2019s tane his lady on his back,\nAnd his auld son in his coat lap.\n15B.4 \u2018When ye hear me give a cry,\nYe\u2019ll shoot your bow and let me lye.\n15B.5 \u2018When ye see my lying still,\nThrow away your bow and come running me till.\u2019\n15B.6 When he heard her gie the cry,\nHe shot his bow and he let her lye.\n15B.7 When he saw she was lying still,\nHe threw away his bow and came running her till.\n15B.8 It was nae wonder his heart was sad\nWhen he shot his auld son at her head.\n15B.9 houkit a grave, long, large and wide,\nHe buried his auld son doun by her side.\n15B.10 It was nae wonder his heart was sair\nWhen he shooled the mools in her yellow hair.\n15B.11 \u2018Oh,\u2019 said his father, \u2019Son, but thou\u2019rt sad!\nAt our braw meeting you micht be glad.\u2019\n15B.12 \u2018Oh,\u2019 said he, \u2018Father, I\u2019ve lost my knife\nI loved as dear almost as my own life.\n15B.13 \u2018But I have lost a far better thing,\nI lost the sheath that the knife was in.\u2019\n15B.14 \u2018Hold thy tongue, and mak nae din;\nI\u2019ll buy thee a sheath and a knife therein.\u2019\n15B.15 \u2018A\u2019 the ships eer sailed the sea\nNeer\u2019ll bring such a sheath and a knife to me.\n15B.16 \u2018A\u2019 the smiths that lives on land\nWill neer bring such a sheath and knife to my hand.\u2019","title":"The Child Ballads: 15. Leesom Brand","type":"page"}