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From Jamieson's Popular Ballads and Songs, i. 162.

"The story of this ballad very much resembles that of Little Musgrave and Lord Barnard. The common title is, The Bonny Birdy. The first stanza is sung thus:—

'There was a knight, on a summer's night,

Was riding o'er the lee, diddle; And there he saw a bonny birdy Was singing on a tree, diddle: O wow for day, diddle! And dear gin it were day! Gin it were day, and I were away, For I ha'ena lang time to stay.'

In the text, the burden of diddle has been omitted; and the name of Lord Randal introduced, for the sake of distinction, and to prevent the ambiguity arising from 'the knight,' which is equally applicable to both."

The lines supplied by Jamieson have been omitted.

Allan Cunningham's "improved" version of the Bonny Birdy may be seen in his Songs of Scotland, ii. 130.

Lord Randal wight, on a summer's night,

Was riding o'er the lee,

And there he saw a bonny birdie

Was singin' on a tree:

"O wow for day!5

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away,

For I ha'ena lang time to stay!

"Mak haste, mak haste, ye wicht baron;

What keeps ye here sae late?10

Gin ye kent what was doing at hame,

I trow ye wad look blate.

"And O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day.

Gin it were day, and ye were away;15

For ye ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"O what needs I toil day and night,

My fair body to spill,

When I ha'e knichts at my command,

And ladies at my will?"20

"O weel is he, ye wight baron,

Has the blear drawn o'er his e'e;

But your lady has a knight in her arms twa,

That she lo'es far better nor thee.

"And O wow for day!25

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and ye were away;

For ye ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"Ye lie, ye lie, ye bonny birdie;

How you lie upon my sweet;30

I will tak out my bonny bow,

And in troth I will you sheet."

"But afore ye ha'e your bow weel bent,

And a' your arrows yare,

I will flee till anither tree,35

Whare I can better fare.

"And O wow for day

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away;

For I ha'ena lang time to stay!"40

"O whare was ye gotten, and where was ye clecked,

My bonny birdie, tell me?"

"O, I was clecked in good green wood,

Intill a holly tree;

A baron sae bald my nest herried,45

And ga'e me to his ladie.

"Wi' good white bread, and farrow-cow milk,

He bade her feed me aft;

And ga'e her a little wee summer-dale wandie,

To ding me sindle and saft.50

"Wi' good white bread, and farrow-cow milk,

I wat she fed me nought;

But wi' a little wee summer-dale wandie,

She dang me sair and oft:—

Gin she had done as ye her bade,55

I wadna tell how she has wrought.

"And O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and ye were away;

For ye ha'ena lang time to stay."60

Lord Randal rade, and the birdie flew,

The live-lang summer's night,

Till he cam till his lady's bower-door,

Then even down he did light.

The birdie sat on the crap o' a tree,65

And I wat it sang fu' dight:

"O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away;

For I ha'ena lang time to stay!"70

* * * * * * *

"O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and ye were away;

For ye ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"Now Christ assoile me o' my sin,"75

The fause knight he could say;

"It's nae for nought that the hawk whistles; And I wish that I were away!

"And O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!80

Gin it were day, and I were away;

For I ha'ena lang time to stay!"

"What needs ye lang for day,

And wish that ye were away?

Is na your hounds in my cellar85

Eating white meal and gray?"

"Yet, O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away,

For I ha'ena lang time to stay!"90

"Is na your horse in my stable,

Eating good corn and hay?

Is na your hawk on my perch tree,

Just perching for his prey?

And isna yoursel in my arms twa;95

Then how can ye lang for day?"

"Yet, O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

Gin it were day, and I were away,

For I ha'ena lang time to stay.100

"Yet, O wow for day!

And dear gin it were day!

For he that's in bed wi' anither man's wife,

Has never lang time to stay."

* * * * * * *

Then out Lord Randal drew his brand,105

And straiked it o'er a strae;

And through and through the fause knight's waste

He gar'd cald iron gae;

And I hope ilk ane sall sae be serv'd,

That treats an honest man sae!110

77, This is a proverbial saying in Scotland. J.