{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch268.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch268.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch268.htm","text":"268A.1 There were twa knights in fair Scotland,\nAnd they were brothers sworn;\nThey made a vow to be as true\nAs if they\u2019d been brothers born.\n268A.2 The one he was a wealthy knight,\nHad lands and buildings free;\nThe other was a young hynde squire,\nIn rank of lower degree.\n268A.3 But it fell ance upon a day\nThese squires they walkd alone,\nAnd to each other they did talk\nAbout the fair women.\n268A.4 \u2018O wed a may,\u2019 the knight did say,\n\u2018For your credit and fame;\nLay never your love on lemanry,\nBring nae gude woman to shame.\u2019\n268A.5 \u2018There\u2019s nae gude women,\u2019 the squire did say,\n\u2018Into this place but nine;\u2019\n\u2018O well falls me,\u2019 the knight replied,\n\u2018For ane o them is mine.\u2019\n268A.6 \u2018Ye say your lady\u2019s a gude woman,\nBut I say she is nane;\nI think that I could gain her love\nEre six months they are gane.\n268A.7 \u2018If ye will gang six months away,\nAnd sail upon the faem,\nThen I will gain your lady\u2019s love\nBefore that ye come hame.\u2019\n268A.8 \u2018O I\u2019ll gang till a far countrie,\nAnd far beyond the faem,\nAnd ye winna gain my lady\u2019s love\nWhan nine lang months are gane.\u2019\n268A.9 When the evening sun did set,\nAnd day came to an end,\nIn then came the lady\u2019s gude lord,\nJust in at yon town\u2019s end.\n268A.10 \u2018O comely are ye, my lady gay,\nSae fair and rare to see;\nI wish whan I am gane away\nYe keep your mind to me.\u2019\n268A.11 She gae \u2019m a bason to wash in,\nIt shin\u2019d thro a\u2019 the ha;\nBut aye as she gaed but and ben\nShe loot the saut tears fa.\n268A.12 \u2018I wonder what ails my gude lord\nHe has sic jealousie;\nNever when we parted before,\nHe spak sic words to me.\u2019\n268A.13 When cocks did craw, and day did daw,\nThis knight was fair at sea;\nThen in it came the young hynde squire,\nTo work him villanie.\n268A.14 \u2018I hae a coffer o gude red gowd,\nAnother o white monie;\nI woud gie you \u2019t a\u2019, my gay lady,\nTo lye this night wi me.\u2019\n268A.15 \u2018If ye warna my lord\u2019s brother,\nAnd him sae far frae hame,\nEven before my ain bower-door\nI\u2019d gar hang you on a pin.\u2019\n268A.16 He\u2019s gane frae the lady\u2019s bower,\nWi the saut tear in his ee,\nAnd he is to his foster-mother\nAs fast as gang coud he.\n268A.17 \u2018There is a fancy in my head\nThat I\u2019ll reveal to thee,\nAnd your assistance I will crave\nIf ye will grant it me.\n268A.18 \u2018I\u2019ve fifty guineas in my pocket,\nI\u2019ve fifty o them and three,\nAnd if ye\u2019ll grant what I request\nYe\u2019se hae them for your fee.\u2019\n268A.19 \u2018Speak on, speak on, ye gude hynde squire,\nWhat may your asking be?\nI kenna wha woud be sae base\nAs nae serve for sic a fee.\u2019\n268A.20 \u2018O I hae wagerd wi my brother,\nWhen he went to the faem,\nThat I woud gain his lady\u2019s love\nEre six months they were gane.\n268A.21 \u2018To me he laid his lands at stake\nTho he were on the faem,\nI wudna gain his lady\u2019s love\nWhan nine lang months were gane.\n268A.22 \u2018Now I hae tried to gain her love,\nBut finds it winna do;\nAnd here I\u2019m come, as ye her know,\nTo seek some help frae you.\n268A.23 \u2018For I did lay my life at stake,\nWhan my brother went frae hame,\nThat I woud gain his lady\u2019s love\nWhan he was on the faem.\u2019\n268A.24 But when the evening sun was set,\nAnd day came to an end,\nIn it came that fause carline,\nJust in at yon town\u2019s end.\n268A.25 \u2018O comely are ye, my gay lady,\nYour lord is on the faem;\nYon unco squire will gain your love,\nBefore that he come hame.\u2019\n268A.26 \u2018Forbid it,\u2019 said the lady fair,\n\u2018That eer the like shoud be,\nThat I woud wrang my ain gude lord,\nAnd him sae far at sea.\u2019\n268A.27 \u2018O comely are ye, my gay lady,\nStately is your fair bodie;\nYour lovely visage is far chang\u2019d,\nThat is best known to me.\n268A.28 \u2018You\u2019re sair dune out for want o sleep\nSin your lord went to sea;\nUnless that ye do cease your grief,\nIt will your ruin be.\n268A.29 \u2018You\u2019ll send your maids unto the hay,\nYour young men unto the corn;\nI\u2019ll gar ye sleep as soun a sleep\nAs the night that ye were born.\u2019\n268A.30 She sent her maids to ted the hay,\nHer men to shear the corn,\nAnd she gard her sleep as soun a sleep\nAs the night that she was born.\n268A.31 She rowd that lady in the silk,\nLaid her on holland sheets;\nWi fine enchanting melodie,\nShe lulld her fast asleep.\n268A.32 She lockd the yetts o that castle\nWi thirty locks and three,\nThen went to meet the young hynde squire\nTo him the keys gae she.\n268A.33 s opend the locks o that castle,\nWere thirty and were three,\nAnd he\u2019s gane where that lady lay,\nAnd thus to her said he.\n268A.34 \u2018O wake, O wake, ye gay lady,\nO wake and speak to me;\nI hae it fully in my power\nTo come to bed to thee.\u2019\n268A.35 \u2018For to defile my husband\u2019s bed,\nI woud think that a sin;\nAs soon as this lang day is gane,\nThen I shall come to thine.\u2019\n268A.36 Then she has calld her niece Maisry,\nSays, An asking ye\u2019ll grant me,\nFor to gang to yon unco squire\nAnd sleep this night for me.\n268A.37 \u2018The gude red gowd shall be your hire,\nAnd siller\u2019s be your fee;\nFive hundred pounds o pennies round,\nYour tocher it shall be.\u2019\n268A.38 She turnd her right and round about,\nAnd thus to her did say;\nO there was never a time on earth\nSo fain\u2019s I woud say nay.\n268A.39 But when the evening sun was set,\nAnd day drawn to an end,\nThen Lady Maisry she is gane,\nFair out at yon town-end.\n268A.40 Then she is to yon hynde squire\u2019s yates,\nAnd tirled at the pin;\nWha was sae busy as the hynde squire\nTo lat that lady in!\n268A.41 He\u2019s taen her in his arms twa,\nHe was a joyfu man;\nHe neither bade her meat nor drink,\nBut to the bed he ran.\n268A.42 When he had got his will o her,\nHis will as he lang sought,\nHer ring but and her ring-finger\nAway frae her he brought.\n268A.43 With discontent straight home she went,\nAnd thus lamented she;\nSays, Wae be to yon young hynde squire!\nSae ill as he\u2019s used me.\n268A.44 When the maids came frae the hay,\nThe young men frae the corn,\nBen it came that lady gay,\nWho thought lang for their return.\n268A.45 \u2018Where hae ye been, my maidens a\u2019,\nSae far awa frae me?\nMy foster-mother and lord\u2019s brother\nThought to hae beguiled me.\n268A.46 \u2018Had not she been my foster-mother,\nI suckd at her breast-bane,\nEven before my ain bower-door,\nShe in a gleed shoud burn.\n268A.47 \u2018The squire he thought to gain my love,\nHe\u2019s got but Lady Maisry;\nHe\u2019s cutted her ring and her ring-finger,\nA love-token for to be.\n268A.48 \u2018I\u2019ll tie my finger in the dark,\nWhere nae ane shall me see;\nI hope to loose it in the light,\nAmang gude companie.\u2019\n268A.49 When night was gane, and birds did sing,\nAnd day began to peep,\nThe hynde squire walkd alang the shore,\nHis brother for to meet.\n268A.50 \u2018Ye are welcome, welcome, landless lord,\nTo my ha\u2019s and my bowers;\nYe are welcome hame, ye landless lord,\nTo my lady white like flowers\u2019\n268A.51 \u2018Ye say I am a landless lord,\nBut I think I am nane,\nWithout ye show some love-token\nAwa frae her ye\u2019ve tane.\u2019\n268A.52 He drew the strings then o his purse,\nAnd they were a\u2019 bludie;\nThe ring but and the ring-finger\nSae soon as he lat him see.\n268A.53 \u2018O wae be to you, fause hynde squire,\nAne ill death mat ye dee!\nIt was too sair a love-token\nTo take frae my ladie.\n268A.54 \u2018But ae asking of you, hynde squire,\nIn your won bowers to dine;\u2019\n\u2018With a\u2019 my heart, my brother dear,\nTho ye had asked nine.\u2019\n268A.55 Then he is to his lady\u2019s father,\nAnd a sorrow man was he:\n\u2018O judge, O judge, my father dear,\nThis judgment pass for me.\n268A.56 \u2018What is the thing that shoud be done\nUnto that gay lady\nWho woud gar her lord gae landless,\nAnd children bastards to be?\u2019\n268A.57 \u2018She shoud be brunt upon a hill,\nOr hangd upon a tree,\nThat woud gar her lord gang landless,\nAnd children bastards be.\u2019\n268A.58 \u2018Your judgment is too rash, father;\nYour ain daughter is she\nThat this day has made me landless;\nYour squire gaind it frae me.\n268A.59 \u2018Yet nevertheless, my parents dear,\nAe favour ye\u2019ll grant me,\nAnd gang alang to my lost ha\u2019s,\nAnd take your dine wi me.\u2019\n268A.60 He threw the charters ower the table,\nAnd kissd the yates o tree;\nSays Fare ye well, my lady gay,\nYour face I\u2019ll never see.\n268A.61 Then his lady calld out to him,\nCome here, my lord, and dine;\nThere\u2019s nae a smith in a\u2019 the land\nThat can ae finger join.\n268A.62 \u2018I tied my finger in the dark,\nWhan nae ane did me see;\nBut now I\u2019ll loose it in the light,\nAmang gude companie.\n268A.63 \u2018Even my niece, Lady Maisry,\nThe same woman was she;\nThe gude red gowd shall be her hire,\nAnd likeways white monie.\n268A.64 \u2018Five hundred pounds o pennies round\nHer tocher then shall be,\nBecause she did my wills obey,\nBeguild the squire for me.\u2019\n268A.65 Then they did call this young hynde squire\nTo come right speedilie,\nLikeways they calld young Lady Maisry.\nTo pay her down her fee.\n268A.66 Then they laid down to Lady Maisry\nThe brand but and the ring;\nIt was to stick him wi the brand,\nOr wed him wi the ring.\n268A.67 Thrice she minted to the brand,\nBut she took up the ring;\nAnd a\u2019 the ladies who heard o it\nSaid she was a wise woman.","title":"The Child Ballads: 268. The Twa Knights","type":"page"}