Geordie
No: 209; variant: 209C
- THERE was a battle in the north,
Among the nobles many;
The Laird of Geight he's killd a man,
And there's nane to die but Geordie.
- 'What news? what news, my bonny boy?
What news hae ye frae Geordie?'
'He bids ye sew his linen shirts,
For he's sure he'll no need many.'
- 'Go saddle the black, go saddle the brown,
Go saddle to me the bonny;
For I will neither eat nor drink
Until I see my Geordie.'
- They've saddled the black, they've saddled the brown,
They've saddled her the bonny,
And she is away to Edinborough town,
Straight away to see her Geordie.
- When she came to the sea-side,
The boats they were nae ready;
She turned her horse's head about,
And swimd at the Queen's Ferry.
- And when she came to the prison-door,
There poor folks they stood many;
She dealt the red guineas them among,
And bade them pray weel for Geordie.
- And when she came into the hall,
Amang the nobles many,
The napkin's tied on Geordie's face,
And the head's to gae frae Geordie.
- 'I have born ten bonny sons,
And the eleventh neer sa his dadie,
And I will bear them all oer again
For the life o bonny Geordie.
- 'I have born the Laird of Gight,
And the Laird of bonny Pernonnie;
And I will gie them all to thee
For the life of my bonny Geordie.'
- Up then spoke [a kind-hearted man],
Wha said, He's done good to many;
If ye'll tell down ten hundred crowns
Away ye shall hae yer Geordie.
- Some telld shillings, and some telld crowns,
But she telld the red guineas many,
Till they've telld down ten hundred crowns,
And away she's got her Geordie.
- [It's up then spoke an Irish lord,
And O but he spoke bauldly!]
'I wish his head had been on the block,
That I might hae got his fair lady.'
- She turned about . .
And O but she spoke boldly!
'A pox upon your nasty face!
Will ye eer be compared to my Geordie?'
- She set him on a milk-white steed,
Herself upon another;
The thrush on the briar neer sang so clear
As she sang behind her Geordie.