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Willie’s Lyke-Wake

No: 25; variant: 25C

  1. 'O WILLIE, Willie, what makes thee so sad?' And the sun shines over the valley 'I have loved a lady these seven years and mair.' Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
  2. 'O Willie, lie down as thou were dead, And lay thy winding-sheet down at thy head.
  3. 'And gie to the bellman a belling-great, To ring the dead-bell at thy love's bower-yett.'
  4. He laid him down as he were dead, And he drew the winding-sheet oer his head.
  5. He gied to the bellman a belling-great, To ring the dead-bell at his love's bower-yett.

  1. When that she came to her true lover's gate, She dealt the red gold and all for his sake.
  2. And when that she came to her true lover's bower, She had not been there for the space of half an hour,
  3. Till that she cam to her true lover's bed, And she lifted the winding-sheet to look at the dead.
  4. He took her by the hand so meek and sma, And he cast her over between him and the wa.
  5. 'Tho all your friends were in the bower, I would not let you go for the space of half an hour.
  6. 'You came to me without either horse or boy, But I will send you home with a merry convoy.'