. . . . . . .
13
Up spake Lord Carnegie,
’ O Kate, what do you think?
We’ll beguile the Earl of Errol,
As long as he’s in drink.’
14
‘O what need you beguile him?
Or what would you do than?
For I can easy vow and testify
Lord Errol’s not a man.
12
‘You need not wash my petticoat
And hang it at the door;
For it’s baith side and wide enough,
And hangs even down before.
11
‘You need not wash my apron
And hang it on a pin;
For I’m as leil a maiden
As first when I went in.’
15
Down came the Earl of Errol,
As swift as any roe:
‘Come harness me my Irish coach,
To Edinburgh I go.’
16
And when he came to Edinburgh,
A ganging through the green,
Full four-and-twenty maidens
A’ dancing there were seen.
17
And there were fifteen maidens
All dancing in a row,
And the fairest and the fattest
To prove that she must go.
18
He’s taen his Peggy by the hand,
And led her through the green,
And twenty times he’s kissed her,
Before his lady’s een.
19
He’s taen his Peggy by the hand,
And led her through the hall,
And twenty times he’s kissed her,
Before the nobles all.
He’s taen his Peggy by the hand,
And led her to a room,
And gave her a cup of claret wine,
And syne a bed of down.
20^{1,2}
‘Stand up, stand up, my Peggy,
Stand up, and think na shame,
Na hide your face within your hand,
On me be all the blame.
‘For you shall have a thousand pounds
As soon as it is won,
20^{3,4}
And you shall have ten thousand pounds
If you bear to me a son.’
21
He kept his Peggy in a room
Full nine months and a day,
And at the very nine months’ end
She bore a son so gay.
As they were all at dinner sat,
And merrily went the can,
Up spake the noble Earl of Perth,
‘Kate, what ails you at your man?’
‘Oh, all the lands and earldom
Are now to ruin gone,
For I can easy vow and testify
He’ll never get a son.’
24^{1–4}
‘Ye lie, ye lie, you filthy jade,
So loud I hear you lie!
For there sits Lord Errol’s son,
Upon his mither’s knee.’
22
‘As you are Kate Carnegie
And I Sir Gilbert Hay,
I’ll gar your father sell his land
Your tocher for to pay.’
23
‘To gar my father sell his land
I’m sure would be a sin,
For to tocher any John Sheephead
Who could neer a tocher win.’
25^{1–4}
‘You may take hame your daughter Kate,
And set her in a glen,
For Lord Errol cannot please her,
Nor none of Errol’s men.
‘You may provide a knife and fork,
A trencher and a spoon,
A little boy to call her,
Come to your dinner, dame;
A little boy to call her
Till seven years are done.’
#B.#
_Written in long lines, without division into stanzas; carelessly
and in a bad hand, like other transcripts by Skene. The frequent
gaps (of which only one is indicated, 5^4) make the division
here adopted doubtful in some cases._
_The burden is given at the end only, and is badly corrupted._ 1.
the Darton all. 3. Pearting?
7^4. hir all. _Corrupted?_ hir, _or_ him, at?
10^1. tour end: _see_ 24^{1–2}.
15^3, 16^3. Earl.
20^2. gay ladies.