{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch213.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch213.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch213.htm","text":"213A.1 O HEARD ye of Sir James the Rose,\nThe young heir of Buleighen?\nFor he has killd a gallant squire,\nAn \u2019s friends are out to take him.\n213A.2 Now he\u2019s gone to the house of Marr,\nWhere the nourrice was his leman;\nTo see his dear he did repair,\nThinking she would befriend him.\n213A.3 \u2018Where are you going, Sir James?\u2019 she says,\n\u2018Or where now are you riding?\u2019\n\u2018O I am bound to a foreign land,\nFor now I\u2019m under hiding.\n213A.4 \u2018Where shall I go? Where shall I run?\nWhere shall I go to hide me?\nFor I have killd a gallant squire,\nAnd they\u2019re seeking to slay me.\u2019\n213A.5 \u2018O go ye down to yon ale-house,\nAnd I\u2019ll pay there your lawing;\nAnd, if I be a woman true,\nI\u2019ll meet you in the dawing.\u2019\n213A.6 \u2018I\u2019ll not go down to yon ale-house,\nFor you to pay my lawing;\nThere\u2019s forty shillings for one supper,\nI\u2019ll stay in \u2019t till the dawing.\u2019\n213A.7 He\u2019s turnd him right and round about\nAnd rowd him in his brechan,\nAnd he has gone to take a sleep,\nIn the lowlands of Buleighen.\n213A.8 He was not well gone out of sight,\nNor was he past Milstrethen,\nTill four and twenty belted knights\nCame riding oer the Leathen.\n213A.9 \u2018O have you seen Sir James the Rose,\nThe young heir of Buleighen?\nFor he has killd a gallant squire,\nAnd we\u2019re sent out to take him.\u2019\n213A.10 \u2018O I have seen Sir James,\u2019 she says,\n\u2018For he past here on Monday;\nIf the steed be swift that he rides on,\nHe\u2019s past the gates of London.\u2019\n213A.11 But as they were going away,\nThen she calld out behind them;\n\u2018If you do seek Sir James,\u2019 she says,\n\u2018I\u2019ll tell you where you\u2019ll find him.\n213A.12 \u2018You\u2019ll seek the bank above the mill,\nIn the lowlands of Buleighen,\nAnd there you\u2019ll find Sir James the Rose,\nLying sleeping in his brechan.\n213A.13 \u2018You must not wake him out of sleep,\nNor yet must you affright him,\nTill you run a dart quite thro his heart,\nAnd thro the body pierce him.\u2019\n213A.14 They sought the bank above the mill,\nIn the lowlands of Buleighan,\nAnd there they found Sir James the Rose,\nA sleeping in his brechan.\n213A.15 Then out bespoke Sir John the Gra+eme,\nWho had the charge a keeping;\n\u2018It\u2019s neer be said, dear gentlemen,\nWe\u2019ll kill him when he\u2019s sleeping.\u2019\n213A.16 They seizd his broadsword and his targe,\nAnd closely him surrounded;\nBut when he wak\u2019d out of his sleep,\nHis senses were confounded.\n213A.17 \u2018O pardon, pardon, gentlemen!\nHave mercy now upon me!\u2019\n\u2018Such as you gave, such you shall have,\nAnd so we\u2019ll fall upon thee.\u2019\n213A.18 \u2018Donald my man, wait me upon,\nAnd I\u2019ll give you my brechan,\nAnd, if you stay here till I die,\nYou\u2019ll get my trews of tartan.\n213A.19 \u2018There is fifty pounds in my pocket,\nBesides my trews and brechan;\nYou\u2019ll get my watch and diamond ring;\nAnd take me to Loch Largon.\u2019\n213A.20 Now they have taken out his heart\nAnd stuck it on a spear,\nThen took it to the House of Marr,\nAnd gave it to his dear.\n213A.21 But when she saw his bleeding heart\nShe was like one distracted;\nShe smote her breaxt, and wrung her hands,\nCrying, \u2018What now have I acted!\n213A.22 \u2018Sir James the Rose, now for thy sake\nO but my heart\u2019s a breaking!\nCurst be the day I did thee betray,\nThou brave knight of Buleighen.\u2019\n213A.23 Then up she rose, and forth she goes,\nAll in that fatal hour,\nAnd bodily was born away,\nAnd never was seen more.\n213A.24 But where she went was never kend,\nAnd so, to end the matter,\nA traitor\u2019s end, you may depend,\nCan be expect\u2019d no better.","title":"The Child Ballads: 213. Sir James the Rose","type":"page"}