The Broom of Cowdenknows
No: 217; variant: 217E
- THERE was a may, and a bonnie may,
In the bught, milking the ewes,
And by came a troop of gentlemen,
And they rode by and by.
- 'O I'll give thee my milk-white steed,
It cost me three hundred pound,
If ye'll go to yon sheep-bught,
And bring yon fair maid doun.'
- 'Your steed ye canna want, master,
But pay to ane a fee;
Fifty pound of good red gold,
To be paid down to me.'
- 'Come shew me the way, pretty may,' he said,
'For our steeds are quite gone wrong;
Will you do to me such a courtesy
As to shew us the near-hand way?'
- 'O go ye doun to yon meadow,
Where the people are mowing the hay;
Go ye doun to yon meadow,
And they'll shew you the near-hand way.'
- But he's taen her by the milk-white hand,
And by the grass-green sleeve;
He's bowed her body to the ground,
Of her kin he asked no leave.
- When he lifted her up again
He's gien her guineas three:
'If I be na back gin three quarters o a year,
Ye need neer think mair on me.'
- 'O where hast thou been, bonnie may,' he said,
'O where hast thou been sae lang?
O where hast thou been, bonnie may?' he said,
'Thou hast na been sae lang thy lane.'
- 'O come to the door and see, father,
O come to the door and see,
And see such a weety and a windy night;
There were nobody wi me.
- 'But wae be to your herd, father,
And an ill death may he die!
For he left the ewes strayed owre the knowes,
And he left naebody wi me.
- 'But there came a tod to your bught, father,
The like o him I neer saw;
For or he had taen the bonnie lamb he took,
Ye had as weel hae gien them a'.
- There came a tod to your bught, father,
The like o him I neer did see;
For aye when he spak he lifted up his hat,
And he had a bonnie twinkling ee.'
- But when twenty weeks were come and gane,
Aye, twenty weeks and three,
This lassie began to spit and to spew,
And to lang for the twinkling ee.
- It fell on a day, and a bonnie summer day,
She was ca'ing out her father's kye,
And by came a troop of gentlemen,
And they rode by and by.
- 'O wha got the bairn wi thee, bonnie may?
O wha got the bairn wi thee?'
. . . .
. . . .
- She turned hersell right round about,
She began to blush and think shame,
And never a word this bonnie lassie spok
But 'I have a good-man at hame.'
- 'Thou lie, thou lie, my bonnie may,
Sae loud I hear thee lie!
Do ye mind o the weety and windy night
When I was in the ewe-bught wi thee?
- 'Light off, light off, the gentlest of my men,
And set her on behind,
And ca out your kye, good father, yoursell,
For she'll never ca them out again.'
- He was the laird o twenty plough o land,
Aye, twenty plough and three,
And he's taen awa the bonniest lass
Was in a' the south countrie.