Читать книгу English and Scottish Ballads (Vol. 1-8) - Various Authors - Страница 167

Fair Lady Anne sate in her bower,

Down by the greenwood side,

And the flowers did spring, and the birds did sing,

'Twas the pleasant May-day tide.

But fair Lady Anne on Sir William call'd,5

With the tear grit in her ee,

"O though thou be fause, may Heaven thee guard,

In the wars ayont the sea!"—

Out of the wood came three bonnie boys,

Upon the simmer's morn,10

And they did sing and play at the ba',

As naked as they were born.

"O seven lang years wad I sit here,

Amang the frost and snaw,

A' to hae but ane o' these bonnie boys,15

A playing at the ba'."—

Then up and spake the eldest boy,

"Now listen, thou fair ladie,

And ponder well the rede that I tell,

Then make ye a choice of the three.20

"'Tis I am Peter, and this is Paul,

And that ane, sae fair to see,

But a twelve-month sinsyne to paradise came,

To join with our companie."—

"O I will hae the snaw-white boy,25

The bonniest of the three."—

"And if I were thine, and in thy propine,

O what wad ye do to me?"—

"'Tis I wad clead thee in silk and gowd,

And nourice thee on my knee."—30

"O mither! mither! when I was thine,

Sic kindness I couldna see.

"Beneath the turf, where now I stand,

The fause nurse buried me;

The cruel penknife sticks still in my heart,35

And I come not back to thee."—

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