{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch265.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch265.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch265.htm","text":"265A.1 \u2018THERE is a fashion in this land,\nAnd even come to this country,\nThat every lady should meet her lord\nWhen he is newly come frae sea:\n265A.2 \u2018Some wi hawks, and some wi hounds,\nAnd other some wi gay monie;\nBit I will gae myself alone,\nAnd set his young son on his knee.\u2019\n265A.3 She\u2019s taen her young son in her arms,\nAnd nimbly walkd by yon sea-strand,\nAnd there she spy\u2019d her father\u2019s ship,\nAs she was sailing to dry land.\n265A.4 \u2018Where hae ye put my ain gude lord,\nThis day he stays sae far frae me?\u2019\n\u2018If ye be wanting your ain gude lord,\nA sight o him ye\u2019ll never see.\u2019\n265A.5 \u2018Was he brunt? or was he shot?\nOr was he drowned in the sea?\nOr what\u2019s become o my ain gude lord,\nThat he will neer appear to me?\u2019\n265A.6 \u2018He wasna brunt, nor was he shot,\nNor was he drowned in the sea;\nHe was slain in Dunfermling,\nA fatal day to you and me.\u2019\n265A.7 \u2018Come in, come in, my merry young men,\nCome in and drink the wine wi me;\nAnd a\u2019 the better ye shall fare\nFor this gude news ye tell to me.\u2019\n265A.8 She\u2019s brought them down to yon cellar,\nShe brought them fifty steps and three;\nShe birled wi them the beer and wine,\nTill they were as drunk as drunk could be.\n265A.9 Then she has lockd her cellar-door,\nFor there were fifty steps and three:\n\u2018Lie there, wi my sad malison,\nFor this bad news ye\u2019ve tauld to me.\u2019\n265A.10 She\u2019s taen the keys intill her hand\nAnd threw them deep, deep in the sea:\n\u2018Lie there, wi my sad malison,\nTill my gude lord return to me.\u2019\n265A.11 Then she sat down in her own room,\nAnd sorrow lulld her fast asleep,\nAnd up it starts her own gude lord,\nAnd even at that lady\u2019s feet.\n265A.12 \u2018Take here the keys, Janet,\u2019 he says,\n\u2018That ye threw deep, deep in the sea;\nAnd ye\u2019ll relieve my merry young men,\nFor they\u2019ve nane o the swick o me.\n265A.13 \u2018They shot the shot, and drew the stroke,\nAnd wad in red bluid to the knee;\nNae sailors mair for their lord coud do\nNor my young men they did for me.\u2019\n265A.14 \u2018I hae a question at you to ask,\nBefore that ye depart frae me;\nYou\u2019ll tell to me what day I\u2019ll die,\nAnd what day will my burial be?\u2019\n265A.15 \u2018I hae nae mair o God\u2019s power\nThan he has granted unto me;\nBut come to heaven when ye will,\nThere porter to you I will be.\n265A.16 \u2018But ye\u2019ll be wed to a finer knight\nThan ever was in my degree;\nUnto him ye\u2019ll hae children nine,\nAnd six o them will be ladies free.\n265A.17 \u2018The other three will be bold young men,\nTo fight for king and countrie;\nThe ane a duke, the second a knight,\nAnd third a laird o lands sae free.\u2019","title":"The Child Ballads: 265. The Knight's Ghost","type":"page"}