| A. |
Written in stanzas of two long lines,
1. In the Tytler-Brown Manuscript
O well 's me o my gay goss hawke
That he can speake and flee,
Will carry a letter to my love,
Bring another back to me. |
| B. |
201. Oh.
241. by brothers. |
| C. |
21. Oh.
122. shee.
After 16: etc., repeated as above.
After 18 s: etc., as above.
After 20: etc., as to father, mother, etc.
The verses not written out (and not printed in the
Minstrelsy) have been supplied accordingly.
302. bells altered in the Manuscript from mass.
26. clothe.
293. In the Minstrelsy Motherwell has substituted
England for Scotland.
346. Motherwell prints dead ere syne. |
| D. |
In his Note-Book, p. 27, Motherwell says that he
got this copy of the ballad from Agnes Laird;
in the Manuscript, p. 415, from Agnes Lyle. Page
26 of the Note-Book shows that Laird is right. |
| E. |
The edition of 1833 inserts stanza 13, and
substitutes for 27, 28 the following:
Then spake her cruel step-minnie:
'Tak ye the burning lead,
And drap a drap on her bosome,
To try if she be dead.'
They took a drap o boiling lead,
They drappd it on her breast;
'Alas, alas,' her father cried,
'She 's dead without the priest!'
She neither chatterd with her teeth,
Nor shiverd with her chin;
'Alas, alas,' her father cried,
'There is nae breath within!'
After 36 is inserted:
'Commend me to my grey father,
That wished my saul gude rest,
But wae be to my cruel step-dame,
Garrd burn me on the breast'
And mother, 373, is changed to sisters. The
step-mother clearly does not belong to this ballad. |
