Ed de Moel

Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

236. The Laird o Drum

P. 324. B, as it stands in "The Old Lady's Collection," No 16, 'The Lard of Drum.'

1   Ther was a knigh[t],
An a gillan knight was he,
An he's faein in love we his shiperd's daughter,
. . .
2   . . .
He could nether gang nor ride;
He fell so deap in her fancy
Till his nose began to blead.
3   'Bonny may, an bra may,
Canno ye on me rue?
By a' the meads I ever saa,
Ther is nane I lou by you.
4   'Ye'r a shepherd's ae dother,
An I am a barren's son,
An gratt is the pleasur I wad haa
To see you gaa out an in, may.'
5   'I am a shiperd's ae dother,
An ye 'r a barren's son,
An ther is ne pleasur I could ha
To see you gae out nor in.
6   . . .
. . .
For I widne gee the fancey of my bonny love
For ne love nor favour of you, sir.'
7   'Bonny may, an bra may,
Canna ye on me rue?
By a' the maids I ever saa,
Ther is nane I loie but you.'
8   'Lay not your love on me,' she says,
'Lay not your love on me,
For I am our lake to be yer bride,
An you[r] quen I ell never be.
9   'For I will wear nane of your silks,
Nor nean of yer scarlet clase;
For the hue of the eue sail be my goun,
An I will goo as I pleas.'
10   . . .
. . .
Ye'r na our lake to be my bride,
An my quien ye's never be.
11   'Bonney may, an bra may,
Winne ye on me rue?
By a' the may[s] I see,
Ther is nane I loe but you, may.'
12   'If ye ha faen sae deap in my fancy
Ye cane nether gang nor rid,
Ye take me to the middel of the ring,
An bear me guid comp[a]ny.'
13   He has tane her by the milk- whit hand
An led her thro hase an bours:
'Ye'r the jule of my heart,
An a' I have is yours.'
14   He tuke her by the milk-whit hand
An led her out an in:
'Ye'r the jule of my heart,
My d[ea]r, ye 'r welcom in.'
15   Out spak his brother John,
'Brother, ye haa don grate wrong;
Ye ha marred a wife this night
Discredet to all yer kin.'
16   'Hold yer toung, my brother John,
For I hae don ne wrang,
For I ha marred a wife to wine,
An ye ha ane to spend.'
   May, 44, 114, sir, 64, are added for singing as O is in other copies, and either one of these, or O, would naturally be appended in the other stanzas.
81. Lay not fancyour love on me. The next line shows that fanc was written by mistake.

325. Findlay's Manuscript, p. 13, has five stanzas of the ballad, from the recitation of a woman in Kincardineshire. The five stanzas are very nearly the same as D 1, 2, 4, 5, 61,2, with the matter-of-fact conclusion, 63,4,

  An a' body seemed to be content,
And she was at his will.

A stanza from another version is given at the same place which resembles E 8:

  She canna wash your china cups,
Nor dress you a dish o tea, O
But weei can she milk baith cow and ewe,
Wi her cogie at her knee. O

I have received nearly the same from Mr. Walker of Aberdeen as sung by John Walker, crofter, Portlethen, 1893.

  Yer china cups I canna wash,
Nor cook a cup o tea, O
But weel can I milk the cowes and the ewes,
Wi the cogie on my knee. O

To be Corrected in the Print.

331 b, 81. Read out for not.

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