{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/eng/child/ch270.htm","path":"neu/eng/child/ch270.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch270.htm","text":"270A.1 IT was intill a pleasant time,\nUpon a simmer\u2019s day,\nThe noble Earl of Mar\u2019s daughter\nWent forth to sport and play.\n270A.2 As thus she did amuse hersell,\nBelow a green aik tree,\nThere she was a sprightly doo\nSet on a tower sae hie.\n270A.3 \u2018O Cow-me-doo, my love sae true,\nIf ye\u2019ll come down to me,\nYe\u2019se hae a cage o guid red gowd\nInstead o simple tree:\n270A.4 \u2018I\u2019ll put gowd hingers roun your cage,\nAnd siller roun your wa;\nI\u2019ll gar ye shine as fair a bird\nAs ony o them a\u2019.\u2019\n270A.5 But she hadnae these words well spoke,\nNor yet these words well said,\nTill Cow-me-doo flew frae the tower\nAnd lighted on her head.\n270A.6 Then she has brought this pretty bird\nHame to her bowers and ha,\nAnd made him shine as fair a bird\nAs ony o them a\u2019.\n270A.7 When day was gane, and night was come,\nAbout the evening tide,\nThis lady spied a sprightly youth\nStand straight up by her side.\n270A.8 \u2018From whence came ye, young man?\u2019 she said;\n\u2018That does surprise me sair;\nMy door was bolted right secure,\nWhat way hae ye come here?\u2019\n270A.9 \u2018O had your tongue, ye lady fair,\nLat a\u2019 your folly be;\nMind ye not on your turtle-doo\nLast day ye brought wi thee?\u2019\n270A.10 \u2018O tell me mair, young man,\u2019 she said,\n\u2018This does surprise me now;\nWhat country hae ye come frae?\nWhat pedigree are you?\u2019\n270A.11 \u2018My mither lives on foreign isles,\nShe has nae mair but me;\nShe is a queen o wealth and state,\nAnd birth and high degree.\n270A.12 \u2018Likewise well skilld in magic spells,\nAs ye may plainly see,\nAnd she transformd me to yon shape,\nTo charm such maids as thee.\n270A.13 \u2018I am a doo the live-lang day,\nA sprightly youth at night;\nThis aye gars me appear mair fair\nIn a fair maiden\u2019s sight.\n270A.14 \u2018And it was but this verra day\nThat I came ower the sea;\nYour lovely face did me enchant;\nI\u2019ll live and dee wi thee.\u2019\n270A.15 \u2018O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,\nNae mair frae me ye\u2019se gae;\u2019\n\u2018That\u2019s never my intent, my luve,\nAs ye said, it shall be sae.\u2019\n270A.16 \u2018O Cow-me-doo, my luve sae true,\nIt\u2019s time to gae to bed;\u2019\n\u2018Wi a\u2019 my heart, my dear marrow,\nIt\u2019s be as ye hae said.\u2019\n270A.17 Then he has staid in bower wi her\nFor sax lang years and ane,\nTill sax young sons to him she bare,\nAnd the seventh she\u2019s brought hame.\n270A.18 But aye as ever a child was born\nHe carried them away,\nAnd brought them to his mither\u2019s care,\nAs fast as he coud fly.\n270A.19 Thus he has staid in bower wi her\nFor twenty years and three;\nThere came a lord o high renown\nTo court this fari ladie.\n270A.20 But still his proffer she refused,\nAnd a\u2019 his presents too;\nSays, I\u2019m content to live alane\nWi my bird, Cow-me-doo.\n270A.21 Her father sware a solemn oath\nAmang the nobles all,\n\u2018The morn, or ere I eat or drink,\nThis bird I will gar kill.\u2019\n270A.22 The bird was sitting in his cage,\nAnd heard what they did say;\nAnd when he found they were dismist,\nSays, Wae\u2019s me for this day!\n270A.23 \u2018Before that I do langer stay,\nAnd thus to be forlorn,\nI\u2019ll gang unto my mither\u2019s bower,\nWhere I was bred and born.\u2019\n270A.24 Then Cow-me-doo took flight and flew\nBeyond the raging sea,\nAnd lighted near his mither\u2019s castle,\nOn a tower a gowd sae hie.\n270A.25 As his mither was wauking out,\nTo see what she coud see,\nAnd there she saw her little son,\nSet on the tower sae hie.\n270A.26 \u2018Get dancers here to dance,\u2019 she said,\n\u2018And minstrells for to play;\nFor here\u2019s my young son, Florentine,\nCome here wi me to stay.\u2019\n270A.27 \u2019get nae dancers to dance, mither,\nNor minstrells for to play,\nFor the mither o my seven sons,\nThe morn\u2019s her wedding-day.\u2019\n270A.28 \u2018O tell me, tell me, Florentine,\nTell me, and tell me true,\nTell me this day without a flaw,\nWhat I will do for you.\u2019\n270A.29 \u2018Instead of dancers to dance, mither,\nOr minstrells for to play,\nTurn four-and-twenty wall-wight men\nLike storks in feathers gray;\n270A.30 \u2018My seven sons in seven swans,\nAboon their heads to flee;\nAnd I mysell a gay gos-hawk,\nA bird o high degree.\u2019\n270A.31 Then sichin said the queen hersell,\n\u2018That thing\u2019s too high for me;\u2019\nBut she applied to an auld woman,\nWho had mair skill than she.\n270A.32 Instead o dancers to dance a dance,\nOr minstrells for to play,\nFour-and-twenty wall-wight men\nTurnd birds o feathers gray;\n270A.33 Her seven sons in seven swans,\nAboon their heads to flee;\nAnd he himsell a gay gos-hawk,\nA bird o high degree.\n270A.34 This flock o birds took flight and flew\nBeyond the raging sea,\nAnd landed near the Earl Mar\u2019s castle,\nTook shelter in every tree.\n270A.35 They were a flock o pretty birds,\nRight comely to be seen;\nThe people viewd them wi surprise,\nAs they dancd on the green.\n270A.36 These birds ascended frae the tree\nAnd lighted on the ha,\nAnd at the last wi force did flee\nAmang the nobles a\u2019.\n270A.37 The storks there seized some o the men,\nThey coud neither fight nor flee;\nThe swans they bound the bride\u2019s best man\nBelow a green aik tree.\n270A.38 They lighted next on maidens fair,\nThen on the bride\u2019s own head,\nAnd wi the twinkling o an ee\nThe bride and them were fled.\n270A.39 There\u2019s ancient men at weddings been\nFor sixty years or more,\nBut sic a curious wedding-day\nThey never saw before.\n270A.40 For naething coud the companie do,\nNor naething coud they say\nBut they saw a flock o pretty birds\nThat took their bride away.\n270A.41 When the Earl Mar he came to know\nWhere his dochter did stay,\nHe signd a bond o unity,\nAnd visits now they pay.","title":"The Child Ballads: 270. The Earl of Mar's Daughter","type":"page"}