'Be it wind, be it weet, be it hail, be it sleet1, They hoysed their sails on Monenday morn, Wi' a' the speed they may; They hae landed in Noroway, They hadna been a week, a week, In Noroway, but twae, When that the lords o' Noroway "Ye Scottishmen spend a' our king's goud, And a' our queenis fee.' 'Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud! Fu' loud I hear ye lie. "For I brought as much white monie, As gane my men and me, And I brought a half-fou o' gude red goud, 'Make ready, make ready, my merrymen a'! 'I saw the new moon, late yestreen, They hadna sailed a league, a league, A league but barely three, When the lift grew dark, and the wind blew loud, And gurly grew the sea. A line adapted in Kinmont Willie, as the formulae of the Iliad recurs in the Odyssey. 2 suffice. 3 the eighth part of a peck. The ankers brak, and the topmasts lap, And the waves cam o'er the broken ship, 'O where will I get a gude sailor, 'O here am I, a sailor gude, Till you go up to the tall top-mast; He hadna gane a step, a step, A step but barely ane, When a bout flew out of our goodly ship, And the salt sea it came in. 'Gae, fetch a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And wap them into our ship's side, And let na the sea come in.' They fetched a web o' the silken claith, Another of the twine, And they wapped them round that gude ship's side, But still the sea came in. O laith, laith, were our gude Scots lords To weet their cork-heel'd shoon! But lang or a' the play was play'd, They wat their hats aboon. And mony was the feather-bed, And mony was the gude lord's son, The ladyes wrang their fingers white, A' for the sake of their true loves; O lang, lang, may the ladyes sit, And lang, lang, may the maidens sit, O forty miles off Aberdeen, 'Tis fifty fathoms deep, And there lies gude Sir Patrick Spens, Wi' the Scots lords at his feet. EDOM O' GORDON. [Popular version of the story of the burning of the House of Towey, a hold of the Forbes's, by the Gordons, in 1571. There is one English version, named Captain Car.] It fell about the Martinmas, When the wind blew shrill and cauld, Said Edom o' Gordon to his men, 'We maun draw to a hauld. 'And whatna hauld sall we draw to, My merry men and me? We will gae to the house of the Rodes, The lady stood on her castle wa', There she was aware of a host of men 'O see ye not, my merry men a', She ween'd it had been her lovely lord, It was the traitor, Edom o' Gordon, She had na sooner buskit hersell, They had nae sooner supper set, But Edom o' Gordon an' his men The lady ran up to her tower-head, 'Come doun to me, ye lady gay, 'I winna come down, ye fause Gordon, 1 Town is used in Scotland for any country house or farm-buildings. 'Gie owre your house, ye lady fair, 'I winna gie owre, ye fause Gordon, 'Now reach my pistol, Glaud, my man, For, but an I pierce that bluidy butcher, She stood upon her castle wa', She miss'd that bluidy butcher's heart, And only razed his knee. 'Set fire to the house!' quo' fause Gordon, Wud wi' dule and ire: 'Faus ladye, ye sall rue that shot As ye burn in the fire!' 'Wae worth, wae worth ye, Jock, my man! I paid ye weel your fee; Why pu' ye out the grund-wa' stane, Lets in the reek to me? 'And e'en wae worth ye, Jock, my man! I paid ye weel your hire; Why pu' ye out the grund-wa' stane, 'Ye paid me weel my hire, ladye, Ye paid me weel my fee: But now I'm Edom o' Gordon's man,- |