{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch186.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch186.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch186.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\n Legends & Sagas\u00a0\n England\u00a0\n Index\u00a0\n Previous\u00a0\n Next\u00a0\n \n \n \n 186A: Kinmont Willie\n \n \n 186A.1 O HAVE ye na heard o the fause Sakelde?\n O have ye na heard o the keen Lord Scroop?\n How they hae taen bauld Kinmont Willie,\n On Hairibee to hang him up?\n 186A.2 Had Willie had but twenty men,\n But twenty men as stout as he,\n Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont taen,\n Wi eight score in his companie.\n 186A.3 They band his legs beneath the steed,\n They tied his hands behind his back;\n They guarded him, fivesome on each side,\n And they brought him ower the Liddelrack.\n 186A.4 They led him thro the Liddel-rack,\n And also thro the carlisle sands;\n They brought him to Carlisle castell,\n To be at my Lord Scroope\u2019s commands.\n 186A.5 \u2018My hands are tied, but my tongue is free,\n And whae will dare this deed avow?\n Or answer by the border law?\n Or answer to the bauld Buccleuch?\u2019\n 186A.6 \u2018Now haud thy tongue, thou rank reiver!\n There\u2019s never a Scot shall set ye free;\n Before ye cross my castle-yate,\n I trow ye shall take farewell o me.\u2019\n 186A.7 \u2018Fear na ye that, my lord,\u2019 quo Willie;\n \u2018By the faith o my bodie, Lord Scroop,\u2019 he said,\n \u2018I never yet lodged in a hostelrie\n But I paid my lawing before I gaed.\u2019\n 186A.8 Now word is gane to the bauld Keeper,\n In Branksome Ha where that he lay,\n That Lord Scroope has taen the Kinmont Willie,\n Between the hours of night and day.\n 186A.9 He has taen the table wi his hand,\n He garrd the red wine spring on hie;\n \u2018Now Christ\u2019s curse on my head,\u2019 he said,\n \u2018But avenged of Lord Scroop I\u2019ll be!\n 186A.10 \u2018O is my basnet a widow\u2019s curch?\n Or my lance a wand of the willow-tree?\n Or my arm a ladye\u2019s lilye hand?\n That an English lord should lightly me.\n 186A.11 \u2018And have they taen him Kinmont Willie,\n Against the truce of Border tide,\n And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch\n Is keeper here on the Scottish side?\n 186A.12 \u2018And have they een taen him Kinmont Willie,\n Withouten either dread or fear,\n And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch\n Can back a steed, or shake a spear?\n 186A.13 \u2018O were there war between the lands,\n As well I wot that there is none,\n I would slight Carlisle castell high,\n Tho it were builded of marble-stone.\n 186A.14 \u2018I would set that castell in a low,\n And sloken it with English blood;\n There\u2019s nevir a man in Cumberland\n Should ken where Carlisle castell stood.\n 186A.15 \u2018But since nae war\u2019s between the lands,\n And there is peace, and peace should be,\n I\u2019ll neither harm English lad or lass,\n And yet the Kinmont freed shall be!\u2019\n 186A.16 He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,\n I trow they were of his ain name,\n Except Sir Gilbert Elliot, calld\n The Laird of Stobs, I mean the same.\n 186A.17 He has calld him forty marchmen bauld,\n Were kinsmen to the bauld Buccleuch,\n With spur on heel, and splent on spauld,\n And gleuves of green, and feathers blue.\n 186A.18 There were five and five before them a\u2019,\n Wi hunting-horns and bugles bright;\n And five and five came wi Buccleuch,\n Like Warden\u2019s men, arrayed for fight.\n 186A.19 And five and five like a mason-gang,\n That carried the ladders lang and hie;\n And five and five like broken men;\n And so they reached the Woodhouselee.\n 186A.20 And as we crossd the Bateable Land,\n When to the English side we held,\n The first o men that we met wi,\n Whae sould it be but fause Sakelde!\n 186A.21 \u2018Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?\u2019\n Quo fause Sakelde; \u2019Come tell to me!\u2019\n \u2018We go to hunt an English stag,\n Has trespassd on the Scots countrie.\u2019\n 186A.22 \u2018Where be ye gaun, ye marshal-men?\u2019\n Quo fause Sakelde; \u2019Come tell me true!\u2019\n \u2018We go to catch a rank reiver,\n Has broken faith wi the bauld Buccleuch.\u2019\n 186A.23 \u2018Where are ye gaun, ye mason-lads,\n Wi a\u2019 your ladders lang and hie?\u2019\n \u2018We gang to herry a corbie\u2019s nest,\n That wons not far frae Woodhouselee.\u2019\n 186A.24 \u2018Where be ye gaun, ye broken men?\u2019\n Quo fause Sakelde; \u2019Come tell to me!\u2019\n Now Dickie of Dryhope led that band,\n And the nevir a word o lear had he.\n 186A.25 \u2018Why trespass ye on the English side?\n Row-footed outlaws, stand!\u2019 quo he;\n The neer a word had Dickie to say,\n Sae he thrust the lance thro his fause bodie.\n 186A.26 Then on we held for carlisle toun,\n And at Staneshaw-bank the Eden we crossd;\n The water was great, and meikle of spait,\n But the nevir a horse nor man we lost.\n 186A.27 And when we reachd the Staneshaw-bank,\n The wind was rising loud and hie;\n And there the laird garrd leave our steeds,\n For fear that they should stamp and nie.\n 186A.28 And when we left the Staneshaw-bank,\n The wind began full loud to blaw;\n But \u2019twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet,\n When we came beneath the castel-wa.\n 186A.29 We crept on knees, and held our breath,\n Till we placed the ladders against the wa;\n And sae ready was Buccleuch himsell\n To mount the first before us a\u2019.\n 186A.30 He has taen the watchman by the throat,\n He flung him down upon the lead:\n \u2018Had there not been peace between our lands,\n Upon the other side thou hadst gaed.\n 186A.31 \u2018Now sound out, trumpets!\u2019 quo Buccleuch;\n \u2018Let\u2019s waken Lord Scroope right merrilie!\u2019\n Then loud the Warden\u2019s trumpets blew\n \u2018O whae dare meddle wi me?\u2019\n 186A.32 Then speedilie to wark we gaed,\n And raised the slogan ane and a\u2019,\n And cut a hole thro a sheet of lead,\n And so we wan to the castel-ha.\n 186A.33 They thought King James and a\u2019 his men\n Had won the house wi bow and speir;\n It was but twenty Scots and ten\n That put a thousand in sic a stear!\n 186A.34 Wi coulters and wi forehammers,\n We garrd the bars bang merrilie,\n Untill we came to the inner prison,\n Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie.\n 186A.35 And when we cam to the lower prison,\n Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie,\n \u2018O sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie,\n Upon the morn that thou\u2019s to die?\u2019\n 186A.36 \u2018O I sleep saft, and I wake aft,\n It\u2019s lang since sleeping was fleyd frae me;\n Gie my service back to my wyfe and bairns,\n And a\u2019 gude fellows that speer for me.\u2019\n 186A.37 Then Red Rowan has hente him up,\n The starkest men in Teviotdale:\n \u2018Abide, abide now, Red Rowan,\n Till of my Lord Scroope I take farewell.\n 186A.38 \u2018Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope!\n My gude Lord Scroope, farewell!\u2019 he cried;\n \u2018I\u2019ll pay you for my lodging-maill\n When first we meet on the border-side.\u2019\n 186A.39 Then shoulder high, with shout and cry,\n We bore him down the ladder lang;\n At every stride Red Rowan made,\n I wot the Kinmont\u2019s airns playd clang.\n 186A.40 \u2018O mony a time,\u2019 quo Kinmont Willie,\n \u2018I have ridden horse baith wild and wood;\n But a rougher beast than Red Rowan\n I ween my legs have neer bestrode.\n 186A.41 \u2018And mony a time,\u2019 quo Kinmont Willie,\n \u2018I\u2019ve pricked a horse out oure the furs;\n But since the day I backed a steed\n I nevir wore sic cumbrous spurs.\u2019\n 186A.42 We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank,\n When a\u2019 the Carlisle bells were rung,\n And a thousand men, in horse and foot,\n Cam wi the keen Lord Scroope along.\n 186A.43 Buccleuch has turned to Eden Water,\n Even where it flowd frae bank to brim,\n And he has plunged in wi a\u2019 his band,\n And safely swam them thro the stream.\n 186A.44 He turned him on the other side,\n And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he:\n \u2018If ye like na my visit in merry England,\n In fair Scotland come visit me!\u2019\n 186A.45 All sore astonished stood Lord Scroope,\n He stood as still as rock of stane;\n He scarcely dared to trew his eyes\n When thro the water they had gane.\n 186A.46 \u2018He is either himsell a devil frae hell,\n Or else him mother a witch maun be;\n I wad na have ridden that wan water\n For a\u2019 the gowd in Christentie.\u2019\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Next: 187. Jock o the Side","title":"The Child Ballads: 186. Kinmont Willie","type":"page"}