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The Maid Freed From the Gallows

No: 95; variant: 95[I]

  1. 'Hold your tongue, Lord Judge,' she says, 'Yet hold it a little while; Methinks I see my ain dear father Coming wandering many a mile.
  2. 'O have you brought me gold, father? Or have you brought me fee? Or are you come to save my life From off this gallows-tree?'
  3. 'I have not brought you gold, daughter, Nor have I brought you fee, But I am come to see you hangd, As you this day shall be.'

  1. 'I have not brought you gold, true-love, Nor yet have I brought fee, But I am come to save thy life From off this gallows-tree.'
  2. 'Gae hame, gae hame, father,' she says, 'Gae hame and saw yer seed; And I wish not a pickle of it may grow up, But the thistle and the weed.
  3. 'Gae hame, gae hame, gae hame, mother, Gae hame and brew yer yill; And I wish the girds may a' loup off, And the Deil spill a' yer yill.
  4. 'Gae hame, gae hame, gae hame, brother, Gae hame and lie with yer wife; And I wish that the first news I may hear That she has tane your life.
  5. 'Gae hame, gae hame, sister,' she says, 'Gae hame and sew yer seam; I wish that the needle-point may break, And the craws pyke out yer een.'