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Young Allan

No: 245; variant: 245B

  1. THERE were four-and-twenty sailors bold Sat drinking at the wine; There fell a rousing them among, In an unseally time.
  2. Some there reasd their hawk, their hawk, And some there reasd their hound, But Young Allan reasd his comely cog, As she floats on the feam.
  3. 'There's not a ship amang you a' Will sail alang wi me, But the comely cog o Heckland Hawk, And Flower o Germanie, And the Black Snake o Leve London; They are all gane frae me.'
  4. The wager was a gude wager, Of fifty tuns of wine, And as much o the gude black silk As cleathd their lemans fine.
  5. At midnight dark the wind up stark, The seas began to rout; Young Allan and his bonny new ship Gaed three times witherlins about.
  6. 'O faer will I get a bonny boy Will take my helm in hand Ere I gang up to the tapmast-head To look for some dry land?'
  7. 'O waken, waken your drunken men, As they lie drunk wi wine; For when ye came thro Edinburgh town Ye bought them shoes o ben.
  8. 'There was no shoes made for my feet, Nor gluve made for my hand; But nevertheless, my dear master, I'll take your helm in hand Till ye gae to the topmast head And look for some dry land.'
  9. 'I cannot see no day, no day, Nor no meathe can I ken; But many a bonny feather-bed Lies floating on the faem.'
  10. 'Come down, come down, my dear master, You see not what I see; Through and through your bonny new ship Comes in the green haw sea.'
  11. 'Take fifty ells o the canvas broad And wrap it in a' roun, And as much good pich an tar Make her go hale an soun.
  12. 'Sail on, sail on, my bonny ship, And haste ye to dry lan, And every nail that is in you Shall be a gay gold pin.
  13. 'Sail on, sail on, my bonny ship, And hae me to some lan, And a firlot full o guineas red Will be dealt at the lan's end.'
  14. The ship she hearkend to their voice And listend to the leed, And she gaed thro the green haw sea Like fire out o a gleed.
  15. When the ship got word o that, Goud was to be her beat, She's flowen thro the stormy seas Like sparks out o a weet.
  16. The first an shore that they came till, It was the shore o Troup; Wi cannons an great shooting there, They held Young Allan out.
  17. The next an shore that they came till, It was the shore o Lee; Wi piping an sweet singing there, They towed Young Allan tee.
  18. The next an shore that they came till, It was the shore o Lin; Wi drums beating and pipers playing, They towed Young Allan in, And Allan's lady she was there, To welcome Allan hame.
  19. 'O faer is my little boy,' he said, 'That I brought oer the sea?' 'I'm coming, master, running, master, At your command shall be.'
  20. 'O take to you my comely cog, And wed my daughter free, And a' for this ae night's wark That ye did wake wi me.'