"
"Away, away, thou traitor strang!
Out of my sight soon may'st thou be!
I granted never a traitor's life,
And now I'll not begin with thee."
"Ye lied, ye lied, now, king," he says,
"Altho' a king and prince ye be!
For I've loved naething in my life,
I weel dare say it, but honestie.
"Save a fat horse, and a fair woman,
Twa bonnie dogs to kill a deer;
But England shou'd have found me meal and mault,
Gif I had lived this hundred year.
"She shou'd have found me meal and mault,
And beef and mutton in all plentie;
But never a Scots wife cou'd have said,
That e'er I skaith'd her a puir flee.
"To seek het water beneath cauld ice,
Surely it is a great follie:
I have ask'd grace at a graceless face,
But there is nane for my men and me.
"But had I kenn'd, ere I came frae hame,
How unkind thou wou'dst been to me,
I wou'd ha'e keepit the Border side,
In spite of all thy force and thee.
"Wist England's king that I was ta'en,
Oh, gin a blythe man he wou'd be!
For ance I slew his sister's son,
And on his breast-bane brak a tree."
John wore a girdle about his middle,
Embroider'd o'er with burning gold,
Bespangled with the same metal,
Maist beautiful was to behold.
There hang nine targats {8} at Johnnie's hat,
An ilk ane worth three hundred pound:
"What wants that knave that a king shou'd have,
But the sword of honour and the crown?
"Oh, where got thee these targats, Johnnie.
That blink sae brawly {9} aboon thy brie?"
"I gat them in the field fechting, {10}
Where, cruel king, thou durst not be.
Pages:
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74