'The Queen of Scotland,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of
Scotland, I, 46; Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 577.
| 1 |
'O Troy Muir, my lily-flower,
An asking I'll ask thee;
Will ye come to my bigley bower
And drink the wine wi me?' |
| 2 |
'My dame, this is too much honour
You have conferrd on me;
I'm sure it's mair than I've deservd
Frae sic a one as thee.' |
| 3 |
'In Reekie's towers I hae a bower,
And pictures round it set;
There is a bed that is well made,
Where you and I shall sleep.' |
| 4 |
'O God forbid,' this youth then said,
'That ever I drie sic blame
As ever to touch the queen's bodie,
Altho the king's frae hame.' |
| 5 |
When that he had these words spoken,
She secretly did say,
Some evil I shall work this man,
Before that it be day. |
| 6 |
Whan a' her maids were gane to bed,
And knights were gane frae hame,
She calld upon young Troy Muir,
To put fire in her room. |
| 7 |
'An asking, asking, Troy Muir,
An asking ye'll grant me;'
'O, if it be a lawful thing,
My dame it's granted be.' |
| 8 |
'There is a stane in yon garden,
Nae ane lifts it for me;
But if that ye woud lift the same,
A brave man I'll ca thee. |
| 9 |
'Under yon stane there is a pit,
Most dreary for to see,
And in it there's as much red gowd
As buy a dukedom to thee.' |
| 10 |
'O if I had ae sleep in bed,
And saw the morning sun,
As soon 's I rise and see the skies,
Your will it shall be done.' |
| 11 |
When birds did sing, and sun did rise,
And sweetly sang the lark,
Troy Muir to the garden went,
To work this dreary wark. |
| 12 |
He's taen the stane then by a ring,
And lifted manfullie;
A serpent that lang wanted meat
Round Troy Muir's middle did flee. |
| 13 |
'How shall I get rid o this foul beast?
It's by it I must dee;
I never thought the queen, my friend,
Woud work this mischief to me.' |
| 14 |
But by there came a weelfaird may,
As Troy Muir did tauk,
The serpent's furious rage to lay,
Cut aff her fair white pap. |
| 15 |
As soon as she the same had done,
Young Troy Muir was set free,
And in ane hour the wound was heald,
That nae mair pain had she. |
| 16 |
Says Troy Muir, My lily-flower,
Ye hae releas d me;
But before I see another day,
My wedded wife ye'se be. |
| 17 |
He married her on that same day,
Brought her to his ain hame;
A lovely son to him she bare,
When full nine months were gane. |
| 18 |
As heaven was pleasd, in a short time,
To ease her first sad pain,
Sae was it pleasd, when she'd a son,
To hae a pap again. |
