67. The Twa Corbies. (Scottish version). Quiller-Couch, Arthur, ed. 1910. The Oxford Book of Ballads

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (1863–1944). The Oxford Book of Ballads. 1910.

67. The Twa Corbies

(Scottish version)

AS I was walking all alane,

I heard twa corbies making a mane:

The tane unto the tither did say,

‘Whar sall we gang and dine the day?’

‘—In behint yon auld fail dyke

I wot there lies a new-slain knight;

And naebody kens that he lies there

But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.

III

‘His hound is to the hunting gane,

His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,

His lady’s ta’en anither mate,

So we may mak’ our dinner sweet.

‘Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane,

And I’ll pike out his bonny blue e’en:

Wi’ ae lock o’ his gowden hair

We’ll theek our nest when it grows bare.

‘Mony a one for him maks mane,

But nane sall ken whar he is gane:

O’er his white banes, when they are bare,

The wind sall blaw for evermair.’

GLOSS: corbies] ravens. fail] turf. hause] neck. theek] thatch.