Thro' the Lawlands, o'er the border,
Weel, my babie, may thou furder: [succeed]
Herry the louns o' the laigh countree, [Harry, rascals, low]
Syne to the Highlands hame to me. [Then]
Distinct from either of the foregoing groups are several songs in
narrative form, told as a rule from the point of view of an onlooker,
but hardly inferior to the others in vitality. In them the personal or
dramatic emotion is replaced by a keen sense of the humor of the
situation.
DUNCAN GRAY
Duncan Gray came here to woo,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
On blythe Yule night when we were fou, [drunk]
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.
Maggie coost her head fu' heigh, [cast, high]
Look'd asklent and unco skeigh, [askance, very skittish]
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh; [Made, aloof]
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.
Duncan fleech'd, and Duncan pray'd; [wheedled]
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Duncan sigh'd baith out and in,
Grat his een baith bleer't and blin', [Wept, eyes both]
Spak o' lowpin o'er a linn; [leaping, waterfall]
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.
Time and chance are but a tide,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Slighted love is sair to bide, [sore, endure]
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.
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