The Rantin Laddie
No: 240; variant: 240B
- 'OFT have I playd at the cards an the dyce,
The war so very enticin;
But this is a sad an a sorrowfu seat,
To see my apron risin.
- 'Oft hae I playd at the cards an the dice
For love of my [rantin] laddie;
But now I man sit in my father's kitchie-nouk,
A rokkin o my baby.
- 'But gin I had ane o my father's servans,
For he has so mony,
That wad gae to the wood o Glentanner,
Wi a letter to the rantin laddie!'
- 'Here am I, ane o your father's servans,
For he has sae mony,
That will gae to the wood o Glentanner,
Wi a letter to the rantin laddie.'
- 'Fan ye gae to Aboyne,
To the woods o Glentanner sae bonny,
Wi your hat in your hand gie a bow to the ground,
In the presence o the rantin laddie.'
- Fan he gaed to Aboyne,
To the woods o Glentanner sae bonny,
Wi his hat in his hand he gied a bow to the ground,
In the presence of the rantin laddie.
- Fan he looked the letter on
Sae loud as he was laughin!
But or he read it to an end
The tears they cam down rappin.
- 'O fa is this or fa is that
Has been so ill to my Maggie?
. . . .
. . . .
- 'But ye gett four-and-twenty milk white steeds,
Wi an car . . .
An as mony gay ladies to ride them on,
To gae an bring hame my Maggie.
- 'Ye get four-and-twenty bonny brown steeds,
Wi an car o an ome,
An as mony knights to ride them on,
To gae an bring hame my Maggie.'
- Ye lasses a', far ever ye be,
An ye match wi ony o our Deeside laddies,
Ye'll happy be, ye'l happy be,
For they are frank and kind.