It was for to meet their father's ships that had come in.
. . . . . . .
6
As they walked up the linn,
The eldest dang the youngest in.
7
'O sister, sister, tak my hand,
And ye'll hae Lud John and aw his land.'
8
With a silver wand she pushd her in,
. . . . . . .
9
'O sister, sister, tak my glove,
And ye sall hae my ain true love.'
10
The miller's dochter cam out wi speed.
It was for a water to bake her bread.
11
'O father, father, gae slack your dam;
There's either a white fish or a swan.'
* * * * * * *
12
Bye cam a blind fiddler that way,
And he took three tets o her bonnie yellow hair.
13
And the first spring that he playd,
It said, 'It was my sister threw me in.'
J
Notes and Queries, 4th S., V, 23, from the north of
Ireland.
1
There were two ladies playing ball,
Hey, ho, my Nannie O
A great lord came to court them all.
The swan she does swim bonnie O
2
He gave to the first a golden ring,
He gave to the second a far better thing.
* * * * * * *
3
He made a harp of her breast-bone
. . . . . . .
4
He set it down upon a stone,
And it began to play its lone.
K
Mr G.R. Kinloch's papers, Kinloch MSS, II, 59. From Mrs
Lindores.
1
'O sister, sister, gie me your hand,
Binnorie and Binnorie
And I'll give the half of my fallow-land,
By the bonnie mill-dams of Binnorie.'
* * * * * * *
2
The first time the bonnie fiddle played,
'Hang my sister, Alison,' it said,
'At the bonnie mill-dams of Binnorie.'
L
#a.# From oral tradition, Notes and Queries, 1st S., V,
316. #b.# The Scouring of the White Horse, p. 161. From
North Wales.
1
O was it eke a pheasant cock,
Or eke a pheasant hen,
Or was it the bodye of a fair ladye,
Come swimming down the stream?
2
O it was not a pheasant cock,
Nor eke a pheasant hen,
But it was the bodye of a fair ladye
Came swimming down the stream.
* * * * * * *
3
And what did he do with her fair bodye?
Fal the lal the lal laral lody
He made it a case for his melodye.
Fal, etc.
4
And what did he do with her legs so strong?
He made them a stand for his violon.
5
And what did he do with her hair so fine?
He made of it strings for his violine.
6
And what did he do with her arms so long?
He made them bows for his violon.
7
And what did he do with her nose so thin?
He made it a bridge for his violin.
8
And what did he do with her eyes so bright?
He made them spectacles to put to his sight.
9
And what did he do with her petty toes?
He made them a nosegay to put to his nose.
M
Taken down from recitation at Old Deir, 1876, by Mrs A.F.
Murison. MS., p. 79.
1
There lived twa sisters in yonder ha,
Binórie O an Binórie
They hadna but ae lad atween them twa,
He's the bonnie miller lad o Binórie.
2
It fell oot upon a day,
The auldest ane to the youngest did say,
At the bonnie mill-dams o Binórie,
3
'O sister, O sister, will ye go to the dams,
To hear the blackbird thrashin oer his songs?
At the,' etc.
4
'O sister, O sister, will ye go to the dams,
To see oor father's fish-boats come safe to dry lan?
An the bonnie miller lad o Binorie.'
5
They hadna been an oor at the dams,
Till they heard the blackbird thrashin oer his tune,
At the, etc.
6
They hadna been an oor at the dams
Till they saw their father's fish-boats come safe to dry lan,
Bat they sawna the bonnie miller laddie.
7
They stood baith up upon a stane,
An the eldest ane dang the youngest in,
I the, etc.
8
She swam up, an she swam doon,
An she swam back to her sister again,
I the, etc.
9
'O sister, O sister, len me your han,
An yes be heir to my true love,
He's the bonnie miller lad o Binorie.'
10
'It was not for that love at I dang you in,
But ye was fair and I was din,
And yes droon i the dams o Binorie.'
11
The miller's daughter she cam oot,
For water to wash her father's hans,
Frae the, etc.
12
'O father, O father, ye will fish your dams,
An ye'll get a white fish or a swan,
I the,' etc.
13
They fished up and they fished doon,
But they got nothing but a droonet woman,
I the, etc.
14
Some o them kent by her skin sae fair,
But weel kent he by her bonnie yallow hair
She's the bonnie miller's lass o Binorie.
15
Some o them kent by her goons o silk,
But weel kent he by her middle sae jimp,
She's the bonnie miller's lass o Binorie.
16
Mony ane was at her oot-takin,
But mony ane mair at her green grave makin,
At the bonny mill-dams o Binorie.
N
[Pinkerton's] Scottish Tragic Ballads, p. 72.
1
There were twa sisters livd in a bouir,
Binnorie, O Binnorie
Their father was a baron of pouir.
By the bonnie mildams of Binnorie
2
The youngest was meek, and fair as the may
Whan she springs in the east wi the gowden day.
3
The eldest austerne as the winter cauld,
Ferce was her saul, and her seiming was bauld.
4
A gallant squire cam sweet Isabel to wooe;
Her sister had naething to luve I trow.
5
But filld was she wi dolour and ire,
To see that to her the comlie squire
6
Preferd the debonair Isabel:
Their hevin of luve of spyte was her hell.
7
Till ae ein she to her sister can say,
'Sweit sister, cum let us wauk and play.'
8
They wauked up, and they wauked down,
Sweit sang the birdis in the vallie loun.
9
Whan they cam to the roaring lin,
She drave unweiting Isabel in.
10
'O sister, sister, tak my hand,
And ye sall hae my silver fan.
11
'O sister, sister, tak my middle,
And ye sall hae my gowden girdle.'
12
Sumtimes she sank, sumtimes she swam,
Till she cam to the miller's dam.
13
The miller's dochtor was out that ein,
And saw her rowing down the streim.
14
'O father deir, in your mil-dam
There is either a lady or a milk-white swan!'
15
Twa days were gane, whan to her deir
Her wraith at deid of nicht cold appeir.
16
'My luve, my deir, how can ye sleip,
Whan your Isabel lyes in the deip!
17
'My deir, how can ye sleip bot pain
Whan she by her cruel sister is slain!'
18
Up raise he sune, in frichtfu mude:
'Busk ye, my meiny, and seik the flude.'
19
They socht her up and they socht her doun,
And spyd at last her glisterin gown.
20
They raisd her wi richt meikle care;
Pale was her cheik and grein was her hair.
O
#a.# Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 128.
#b.# Traditional Ballad Airs, edited by W. Christie, I,
42.
1
There were twa sisters in a bower,
Hey wi the gay and the grinding
And ae king's son has courted them baith.
At the bonny bonny bows o London
2
He courted the youngest wi broach and ring,
He courted the eldest wi some other thing.
3
It fell ance upon a day
The eldest to the youngest did say,
4
'Will ye gae to yon Tweed mill-dam,
And see our father's ships come to land?'
5
They baith stood up upon a stane,
The eldest dang the youngest in.
6
She swimmed up, sae did she down,
Till she came to the Tweed mill-dam.
7
The miller's servant he came out,
And saw the lady floating about.
8
'O master, master, set your mill,
There is a fish, or a milk-white swan.'
9
They could not ken her yellow hair,
[For] the scales o gowd that were laid there.
10
They could not ken her fingers sae white,
The rings o gowd they were sae bright.
11
They could not ken her middle sae jimp,
The stays o gowd were so well laced.
12
They could not ken her foot sae fair,
The shoes o gowd they were so rare.
13
Her father's fiddler he came by,
Upstarted her ghaist before his eye.
14
'Ye'll take a lock o my yellow hair,
Ye'll make a string to your fiddle there.
15
'Ye'll take a lith o my little finger bane,
And ye'll make a pin to your fiddle then.'
16
He's taen a lock o her yellow hair,
And made a string to his fiddle there.
17
He's taen a lith o her little finger bane,
And he's made a pin to his fiddle then.
18
The firstand spring the fiddle did play,
Said, 'Ye'll drown my sister, as she's dune me.'
P
#a.# Motherwell's MS., p. 245. #b.# Motherwell's
Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xx, xx.
1
There were twa ladies in a bower,
Hey my bonnie Nannie O
The old was black and the young ane fair.
And the swan swims bonnie O
2
Once it happened on a day
The auld ane to the young did say,
3
The auld ane to the young did say,
'Will you gae to the green and play?'
4
'O sister, sister, I daurna gang,
For fear I file my silver shoon.'
5
It was not to the green they gaed,
But it was to the water of Tweed.
6
She bowed her back and she's taen her on,
And she's tumbled her in Tweed mill-dam.
7
'O sister, O sister, O tak my hand,
And I'll mak you heir of a' my land.'
8
'O sister, O sister, I'll no take your hand,
And I'll be heir of a' your land.'
9
'O sister, O sister, O tak my thumb,
And I'll give you my true-love John.'
10
'O sister, O sister, I'll no tak your thumb,
And I will get your true-love John.'
11
Aye she swattered and aye she swam,
Until she came to the mouth of the dam.
12
The miller's daughter went out to Tweed,
To get some water to bake her bread.
13
In again she quickly ran:
'Here's a lady or a swan in our mill-dam.'
14
Out went the miller and his man
And took the lady out of the dam.
15
They laid her on the brae to dry;
Her father's fiddler then rode by.
16
When he this lady did come near,
Her ghost to him then did appear.
17
'When you go to my father the king,
You'll tell him to burn my sister Jean.
18
'When you go to my father's gate,
You'll play a spring for fair Ellen's sake.
19
'You'll tak three links of my yellow hair,
And play a spring for evermair.'
Q
Copied Oct. 26, 1861, by J.F. Campbell, Esq., from a
collection made by Lady Caroline Murray; traced by her to
an old nurse, and beyond the beginning of this century.
1
There dwelt twa sisters in a bower,
Oh and ohone, and ohone and aree!
And the youngest she was the fairest flower.
On the banks of the Banna, ohone and aree!
2
There cam a knight to court the twa,
But on the youngest his love did fa.
3
He courted the eldest with ring and wi glove,
But he gave the youngest all his love.
4
He courted the eldest with brooch and wi knife,
But he loved the youngest as his life.
5
'O sister, O sister, will ye come to the stream,
To see our father's ships come in?'
6
The youngest stood upon a stane,
Her sister came and pusht her in.
7
'O sister, O sister, come reach me your hand,
And ye shall hae all our father's land.
8
'O sister, O sister, come reach me your glove,
And you shall hae William to be your true love.'
9
'I did not put you in with the design
Just for to pull you out again.'
10
Some time she sank, some time she swam,
Until she came to a miller's dam.
11
The miller's daughter dwelt on the Tweed,
She went for water to bake her bread.
12
'O faither, faither, come drag me your dam,
For there's aither a lady in't, or a milk-white swan.'
13
The miller went, and he dragd his dam,
And he brought her fair body to lan.
14
They couldna see her waist sae sma
For the goud and silk about it a'.
15
They couldna see her yallow hair
For the pearls and jewels that were there.
16
Then up and spak her ghaist sae green,
'Do ye no ken the king's dochter Jean?
17
'Tak my respects to my father the king,
And likewise to my mother the queen.
18
'Tak my respects to my true love William,
Tell him I deid for the love of him.
19
'Carry him a lock of my yallow hair,
To bind his heart for evermair.'
R
#a.# Notes and Queries, 1st S., VI, 102, from Lancashire.
#b.# Written down for J.F. Campbell, Esq., Nov. 7, 1861,
at Wishaw House, Lancashire, by Lady Louisa Primrose, #c.#
'The Scouring of the White Horse,' p. 158, from Berkshire,
as heard by Mr Hughes from his father.
1
There was a king of the north countree,
Bow down, bow down, bow down
There was a king of the north countree,
And he had daughters one, two, three.
I'll be true to my love, and my love'll be true to me
2
To the eldest he gave a beaver hat,
And the youngest she thought much of that.
3
To the youngest he gave a gay gold chain,
And the eldest she thought much of the same.
4
These sisters were walking on the bryn,
And the elder pushed the younger in.
5
'Oh sister, oh sister, oh lend me your hand,
And I will give you both houses and land.'
6
'I'll neither give you my hand nor glove,
Unless you give me your true love.'
7
Away she sank, away she swam,
Until she came to a miller's dam.
8
The miller and daughter stood at the door,
And watched her floating down the shore.
9
'Oh father, oh father, I see a white swan,
Or else it is a fair woman.'
10
The miller he took up his long crook,
And the maiden up from the stream he took.
11
'I'll give to thee this gay gold chain,
If you'll take me back to my father again.'
12
The miller he took the gay gold chain,
And he pushed her into the water again.
13
The miller was hanged on his high gate
For drowning our poor sister Kate.
14
The cat's behind the buttery shelf,
If you want any more, you may sing it yourself.
S
Kinloch MSS, VI, 89, in Kinloch's hand.
* * * * * * *
1
'O father, father, swims a swan,'
This story I'll vent to thee
'O father, father, swims a swan,
Unless it be some dead woman.'
I'll prove true to my true love,
If my love prove true to me
2
The miller he held out his long fish hook,
And hooked this fair maid from the brook.
3
She offered the miller a gold ring stane
To throw her into the river again.
4
Down she sunk, and away she swam,
Until she came to her father's brook.
5
The miller was hung at his mill-gate,
For drowning of my sister Kate.
T
Allingham's Ballad Book, p. xxxiii. From Ireland.
'Sister, dear sister, where shall we go play?'
Cold blows the wind, and the wind blows low
'We shall go to the salt sea's brim.'
And the wind blows cheerily around us, high ho
U
Communicated by Mr W.W. Newell, as repeated by an ignorant
woman in her dotage, who learned it at Huntington, Long
Island, N.Y.
1
There was a man lived in the mist,
Bow down, bow down
He loved his youngest daughter best.
The bow is bent to me,
So you be true to your own true love,
And I'll be true to thee.
2
These two sisters went out to swim;
The oldest pushed the youngest in.
3
First she sank and then she swam,
First she sank and then she swam.
4
The miller, with his rake and hook,
He caught her by the petticoat.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
#A. b.#
1^1, went a-playing.
_Burden^2._ a downe-o.
#c.#
1^1. went a-playing.
_Burden^{1,2}._ With a hey down, down, a down, down-a.
4^2. Till oat-meal and salt grow both on a tree.
6^1. ran hastily down the clift.
6^2. And up he took her without any life.
13^2. Moll Symns.
14^1, 15^1. Then he bespake.
17^2. And let him go i the devil's name.
#d.#
1^1, went a-playing.
1^2, ships sailing in.
2^1. into.
3^2. me up on.
6^2. withouten life.
#B. a.#
26, 27, 28. _An_ it _has been written in as a conjectural
emendation by Jamieson, ~he did it play, {it/he} playd~;
and ~it~ is adopted by Jamieson in his printed copy: see
below, #d# 26, 27, 28._
#b.#
_The first stanza only, agreeing with #a# 1, is given by
Anderson, Nichols's Illustrations, VII, 178._
#c.#
_Evidently a copy of Mrs Brown's version, and in Scott's
MS. it has the air, as all the Tytler-Brown ballads had.
Still it has but twenty-three stanzas, whereas Dr Anderson
gives fifty-eight lines as the extent of the Tytler-Brown
copy of 'The Cruel Sister' (Nichols, Illus. Lit. Hist.,
VII, 178). This, counting the first stanza, with the
burden, as four lines, according to the arrangement in
Scott's MS., would tally exactly with the Jamieson-Brown
MS., #B a#._
_It would seem that #B c# had been altered by somebody in
order to remove the absurd combination of sea and
mill-dam; the invitation to go see the ships come to land,
#B a# 7, is omitted, and "~the deep mill-dam~"
substituted, in 8, for "~yon sea-stran~." Stanza 17 of
#c#, "~They raisd her~," etc., cited below, occurs in
Pinkerton, #N# 20, and is more likely to be his than
anybody's._
2^1. brooch and ring.
2^2. abune a' thing.
3^1. wooed ... with glove and knife.
3^2. looed the second.
5^2. she well nigh brist.
7. _wanting._
8^2. led her to the deep mill-dam.
9^2. Her cruel sister pushd her in.
11^2. And Ise mak ye.
12. _wanting._
14^1. Shame fa the hand that I shall tak.
15^1. gowden hair.
15^2. gar ... maiden ever mair.
16. _wanting._
17^1. Then out and cam.
17^2. swimming down.
18^1. O father, haste and draw.
19^1. his dam.
19^2. And then. (?)
_Instead of 20-22_:
They raisd her wi meikle dule and care,
Pale was her cheek and green was her hair.
24^1. that corpse upon.
25^2. he's strung.
26^1, 27^1, 28^1, _for ~tune~, ~line~, if the copy be
right._
27^1. The next.
28^1. The last.
28^2. fause Ellen.
"Note by Ritson. 'The fragment of a very different copy of
this ballad has been communicated to J.R. by a friend at
Dublin.'" [_J.C. Walker, no doubt._]
#d.#
_Jamieson, Popular Ballads and Songs, I, 48, says that he
gives his text verbatim as it was taken from the
recitation of the lady in Fifeshire (Mrs Brown), to whom
both he and Scott were so much indebted. That this is not
to be understood with absolute strictness will appear from
the variations which are subjoined. Jamieson adds that he
had received another copy from Mrs Arrott of Aberbrothick,
"~but as it furnished no readings by which the text could
have been materially improved~," it was not used. Both
Jamieson and Scott substitute the "~Binnorie~" burden,
"~the most common and popular~," says Scott, for the one
given by Mrs Brown, with which Mrs Arrott's agreed. It may
be added that Jamieson's interpolations are stanzas 20,
21, 27, etc., and not, as he says (I, 49), 19, 20, 27,
etc. These interpolations also occur as such in the
manuscript._
1^1. sisters livd.
2^2. aboon.
3^2. he loved.
4^2. and sair envied.
5^1. Intill her bower she coudna.
5^2. maistly brast.
11^2. mak ye.
14^2. me o.
16^1. _omits ~an~._
16^2. came to the mouth o yon mill-dam.
18^2. There's.
20^2. that was.
22^2. that were.
26^1. it did.
27^1. it playd seen.
28^1. thirden tune that it.
_A copy in Motherwell's MS., p. 239, is derived from
Jamieson's printed edition. It omits the interpolated
stanzas, and makes a few very slight changes._
#C.#
_Scott's account of his edition is as follows (II, 143,
later ed., III, 287)_:
"It is compiled from a copy in Mrs Brown's MS., intermixed
with a beautiful fragment, of fourteen verses, transmitted
to the editor by J.C. Walker, Esq., the ingenious
historian of the Irish bards. Mr Walker, at the same time,
favored the editor with the following note: 'I am indebted
to my departed friend, Miss Brooke, for the foregoing
pathetic fragment. Her account of it was as follows: This
song was transcribed, several years ago, from the memory
of an old woman, who had no recollection of the concluding
verses; probably the beginning may also be lost, as it
seems to commence abruptly.' The first verse and burden of
the fragment run thus:
"'O sister, sister, reach thy hand!
Hey ho, my Nanny, O
And you shall be heir of all my land.
While the swan swims bonny, O'"
_Out of this stanza, or the corresponding one in Mrs
Brown's copy, Scott seems to have made his 9, 10._
#E.#
"My mother used to sing this song." Sharpe's Ballad Book,
ed. of 1880, note, p. 129.
#F.#
2^2. An wooer.
#G.#
2^1. _~strand~, with ~sand~ written above: ~sand~ in 3^1._
#I.#
1^2. _var. in MS._ There was a knicht and he loved them
bath.
7. _The following stanza was subsequently written on an
opposite blank page,--perhaps derived from #D# 8_:
Foul fa the hand that I wad take,
To twin me and my warld's make.
10^2. _~a~ was, perhaps, meant to be expunged, but is only
a little blotted._
11^2. _var._ a lady or a milk-white swan.
12, 13 _were written in later than the rest; at the same
time, apparently, as the stanza above (7)._
#K.#
_Found among Mr Kinloch's papers by Mr Macmath, and
inserted by him as a note on p. 59, vol. II, of Kinloch's
MSS. The order of the stanzas is there, wrongly,
inverted._
1^2. _var._ I wad give you.
#L. a.#
_These fragments were communicated to Notes and Queries,
April 3, 1852, by "~G. A. C.~," who had heard '~The
Miller's Melody~' sung by an old lady in his childhood,
and who represents himself as probably the last survivor
of those who had enjoyed the privilege of listening to her
ballads. We may, therefore, assign this version to the
latter part of the 18th century. The two four-line stanzas
were sung to "~a slow, quaint strain~." Two others which
followed were not remembered, "~but their purport was that
the body 'stopped hard by a miller's mill,' and that this
'miller chanced to come by,' and took it out of the water
'to make a melodye.'~" G.A.C. goes on to say_: "My
venerable friend's tune here became a more lively one, and
the time quicker; but I can only recollect a few of the
couplets, and these not correctly nor in order of
sequence, in which the transformation of the lady into a
viol is described."
#b.#
_Some stanzas of this four-line version, with a ludicrous
modern supplement, are given in '~The Scouring of the
White Horse~,' p. 161, as from the Welsh marshes. Five out
of the first six verses are there said to be very old
indeed, "~the rest all patchwork by different hands~." Mr
Hughes has kindly informed me that he derived the ballad
from his father, who had originally learned it at Ruthyn
when a boy. What is material here follows_:
1
O it was not a pheasant cock,
Nor yet a pheasant hen,
But O it was a lady fair
Came swimming down the stream.
2
An ancient harper passing by
Found this poor lady's body,
To which his pains he did apply
To make a sweet melódy.
3
To cat-gut dried he her inside,
He drew out her back-bone,
And made thereof a fiddle sweet
All for to play upon.
4
And all her hair, so long and fair,
That down her back did flow,
O he did lay it up with care,
To string his fiddle bow.
5
And what did he with her fingers,
Which were so straight and small?
O he did cut them into pegs,
To screw up his fiddoll.
6
Then forth went he, as it might be,
Upon a summer's day,
And met a goodly company,
Who asked him in to play.
| 7
| Then from her bones he drew such tones
| As made their bones to ache,
| They sounded so like human groans
| Their hearts began to quake.
| 8
| They ordered him in ale to swim,--
| For sorrow's mighty dry,--
| And he to share their wassail fare
| Essayd right willingly.
9
He laid his fiddle on a shelf
In that old manor-hall,
It played and sung all by itself,
And thus sung this fiddoll:
| 10
| 'There sits the squire, my worthy sire,
| A-drinking hisself drunk,' etc., etc.
#N.#
_Pinkerton tells us, in the Preface to his ~Ancient
Scottish Poems~, p. cxxxi, that "~Binnorie is one half
from tradition, one half by the editor~." One fourth and
three fourths would have been a more exact apportionment.
The remainder of his text, which is wholly of his
invention, is as follows_:
'Gae saddle to me my swiftest steid;
Her fere, by my fae, for her dethe sall bleid.'
A page cam rinning out owr the lie:
'O heavie tydings I bring,' quoth he.
'My luvely lady is far awa gane;
We weit the fairy hae her tane.
Her sister gaed wood wi dule and rage;
Nocht cold we do her mind to suage.
"O Isabel, my sister," she wold cry,
"For thee will I weip, for thee will I die."
Till late yestrene, in an elric hour,
She lap frae aft the hichest touir.'
'Now sleip she in peace,' quoth the gallant squire;
'Her dethe was the maist that I cold require.
But I'll main for the, my Isabel deir,
Full mony a dreiry day, hot weir.'
20. _This stanza occurs also in #B c# (17), and was
perhaps borrowed from Pinkerton by the reviser of that
copy._
#O. a#.
_Buchan's note, II, 320_: "I have seen four or five
different versions of this ballad, but none in this dress,
nor with the same chorus.... The old woman from whose
recitation I took it down says she had heard another way
of it, quite local, whose burden runs thus:
'Ever into Buchanshire, vari vari O.'"
1^2. hae courted.
#b.#
_Mr Christie has "~epitomized~" Buchan's copy (omitting
stanzas 9-12), with these few slight alterations from the
singing of a Banffshire woman, who died in 1860, at the
age of nearly eighty_:
_Burden_: It's hey, etc.
2^2. And he courted the eldest wi mony other thing.
3^1. But it fell.
5^2. And the eldest.
#P. b.#
_This stanza only_:
There livd twa sisters in a bower,
Hey my bonnie Annie O
There cam a lover them to woo.
And the swan swims bonnie O,
And the swan swims bonnie O
#Q.#
_The burden is given thus in ~Pop. Tales of the West
Highlands~, IV, 125_:
Oh ochone, ochone a rie,
On the banks of the Banna, ochone a rie.
#R. a.#
_The title '~The Three Sisters,~' and perhaps the first
stanza, belongs rather to ~No 1 #A#, #B#, p. 3f.~_
#b.#
1.
A farmer there lived in the north countree,
Bo down
And he had daughters one, two, three.
And I'll be true unto my love, if he'll be true unto me
(_The burden is given as ~Bo down, bo down~, etc., in
~Popular Tales of the West Highlands~, IV, 125._)
_Between 1 and 2 #b# has_:
The eldest she had a lover come,
And he fell in love with the younger one.
He bought the younger a ...
The elder she thought ...
3. _wanting._
4^1. The sisters they walkt by the river brim.
6^2. my true love.
8.
The miller's daughter was at the door,
As sweet as any gillyflower.
9.
O father, O father, there swims a swain,
And he looks like a gentleman.
10.
The miller he fetcht his line and hook,
And he fisht the fair maiden out of the brook.
11^1. O miller, I'll give you guineas ten,
12.
The miller he took her guineas ten,
And then he popt her in again.