Читать книгу English and Scottish Ballads (Vol. 1-8) - Various Authors - Страница 35

"I'll wager, I'll wager," says Lord John,

"A hundred merks and ten,

That ye winna gae to the bonnie broom-fields,

And a maid return again."—

5 "But I'll lay a wager wi' you, Lord John,

A' your merks oure again,

That I'll gae alane to the bonnie broom-fields,

And a maid return again."

Then Lord John mounted his grey steed,

10 And his hound wi' his bells sae bricht,

And swiftly he rade to the bonny broom-fields,

Wi' his hawks, like a lord or knicht.

"Now rest, now rest, my bonnie grey steed,

My lady will soon be here;

15 And I'll lay my head aneath this rose sae red,

And the bonnie burn sae near."

But sound, sound, was the sleep he took,

For he slept till it was noon;

And his lady cam at day, left a taiken and away,

20 Gaed as licht as a glint o' the moon.

She strawed the roses on the ground,

Threw her mantle on the brier,

And the belt around her middle sae jimp,

As a taiken that she'd been there.

25 The rustling leaves flew round his head,

And rous'd him frae his dream;

He saw by the roses, and mantle sae green,

That his love had been there and was gane.

"O whare was ye, my gude grey steed,

30 That I coft ye sae dear;

That ye didna waken your master,

Whan ye ken'd that his love was here."—

"I pautit wi' my foot, master,

Garr'd a' my bridles ring;

35 And still I cried, Waken, gude master,

For now is the hour and time."—

"Then whare was ye, my bonnie grey hound,

That I coft ye sae dear,

That ye didna waken your master,

40 Whan ye kend that his love was here."—

"I pautit wi' my foot, master,

Garr'd a' my bells to ring;

And still I cried, Waken, gude master,

For now is the hour and time."—

45 "But whare was ye, my hawks, my hawks,

That I coft ye sae dear,

That ye didna waken your master,

Whan ye ken'd that his love was here."—

"O wyte na me, now, my master dear,

50 I garr'd a' my young hawks sing,

And still I cried, Waken, gude master,

For now is the hour and time."—

"Then be it sae, my wager gane!

'T will skaith frae meikle ill;

55 For gif I had found her in bonnie broom-fields,

O' her heart's blude ye'd drunken your fill."

The stanzas below are from an American version of this ballad called The Green Broomfield, printed in a cheap song-book. (Graham's Illustrated Magazine, Sept. 1858.)

"Then when she went to the green broom field,

Where her love was fast asleep,

With a gray goose-hawk and a green laurel bough, And a green broom under his feet.

"And when he awoke from out his sleep,

An angry man was he;

He looked to the East, and he looked to the West,

And he wept for his sweetheart to see.

"Oh! where was you, my gray goose-hawk, The hawk that I loved so dear, That you did not awake me from out my sleep, When my sweetheart was so near!"