| |
I
‘I WAS but seven year auld | |
| When my mither she did dee; | |
| My father married the ae warst woman | |
| The warld did ever see. | |
| |
II
‘For she has made me the laily worm, | 5 |
| That lies at the fit o’ the tree, | |
| An’ my sister Masery she’s made | |
| The machrel of the sea. | |
| |
III
‘An’ every Saturday at noon | |
| The machrel comes to me, | 10 |
| An’ she takes my laily head | |
| An’ lays it on her knee, | |
| She kaims it wi’ a silier kaim, | |
| An’ washes’t in the sea. | |
| |
IV
‘Seven knights hae I slain, | 15 |
| Sin I lay at the fit of the tree, | |
| An’ ye war na my ain father, | |
| The eighth ane ye should be.’— | |
| |
V
‘Sing on your song, ye laily worm, | |
| That ye did sing to me.’— | 20 |
| ‘I never sung that song but what | |
| I would sing it to thee. | |
| |
VI
‘I was but seven year auld, | |
| When my mither she did dee; | |
| My father married the ae warst woman | 25 |
| The warld did ever see. | |
| |
VII
‘For she changed me to the laily worm, | |
| That lies at the fit o’ the tree, | |
| And my sister Masery | |
| To the machrel of the sea. | 30 |
| |
VIII
‘And every Saturday at noon | |
| The machrel comes to me, | |
| An’ she takes my laily head | |
| An’ lays it on her knee, | |
| An’ kames it wi’ a siller kame, | 35 |
| An’ washes it i’ the sea. | |
| |
IX
‘Seven knights hae I slain | |
| Sin I lay at the fit o’ the tree; | |
| An’ ye war na my ain father, | |
| The eighth ane ye should be.’ | 40 |
| |
X
He sent for his lady, | |
| As fast as send could he: | |
| ‘Whar is my son that ye sent frae me, | |
| And my daughter, Lady Masery?’— | |
| |
XI
‘Your son is at our king’s court, | 45 |
| Serving for meat an’ fee, | |
| An’ your daughter’s at our queen’s court, | |
| The queen’s maiden to be.’— | |
| |
XII
‘Ye lee, ye lee, ye ill woman, | |
| Sae loud as I hear ye lee; | 50 |
| My son’s the laily worm, | |
| That lies at the fit o’ the tree, | |
| And my daughter, Lady Masery, | |
| Is the machrel of the sea!’ | |
| |
XIII
She has tane a siller wan’, | 55 |
| An’ gi’en him strokès three, | |
| And he’s started up the bravest knight | |
| That ever your eyes did see. | |
| |
XIV
She has ta’en a small horn, | |
| An’ loud an’ shrill blew she, | 60 |
| An’ a’ the fish came her untill | |
| But the machrel of the sea: | |
| ‘Ye shapeit me ance an unseemly shape, | |
| An’ ye’s never mare shape me.’ | |
| |
XV
He has sent to the wood | 65 |
| For whins and for hawthorn, | |
| An’ he has ta’en that gay lady, | |
| An’ there he did her burn. | |
|
|
| |
