14^2. Wi fute or hand.
14^4. cast the.
15^4. Art thou weary.
16^4. to mese my waes does.
17^1. out and.
17^2. Now fear ye na.
17^3. here are.
18^1. Now haud thy tongue, my gude Laird’s Jock.
18^2. For ever alas this canna be.
18^3. was.
19^4. dark and.
20^4. be sworn we’ll.
21^4. a’ to.
22^2. Jock has.
23 _wanting._
28^2. I hae lived here threty.
29^1. out and.
29^4. come.
30^1. cried the Laird’s ane Jock.
30^2. but him.
30^3. I’ll guide thee.
31^1. Wi that: they hae.
31^3. quo the.
32^1. the other brae.
32^4. lads baith stout.
33^2. says he.
33^3. Then cried aloud, The prisoner take.
33^4. the fetters.
34^1. quo the.
34^3. bay mare.
34^4. She has: right dear.
35^1. are onto.
36^2. is comd.
36^3. ingle side.
36^4. twixt thee.
37 _wanting._
_Scott changes Campbell’s readings for Caw’s now and then, and Caw’s
for his own._
#C.#
_Written continuously after the first stanza, and mostly without
punctuation. The end of a stanza is indicated after 3 by the
insertion of the burden. Some one, probably Percy, has attempted
to show the proper separation by marks between the lines. #B#
has been taken as a guide for the divisions here adopted._
9^1. And when they came there _ends_ 8^4 _in the MS_.
11^2. Jnº _for_ John.
14^2. And of thy talk, etc., _is a line by itself in the MS._
16^3. And me.
19^2. _Two lines in the MS._
20^2. _Perhaps_ dos’.
20^3. Unto ℰ.
21^{2,3}, 24, 28. The lines are run together.
31. And says now John the day _continues_ 30^4 _in the MS._
#D.#
5^3. s....d, _illegible_.
7^1. _Perhaps_ Swinburin.
9^3. gang _has been changed to_ hang, _or_ hang _to_ gang:
_neither is quite intelligible_.
1, 2, 3 _are in the MS._ 2, 3, 1.
188
ARCHIE O CAWFIELD
#A.# ‘Archie of the Cawfield,’ communicated to Percy by Miss Fisher of
Carlisle, 1780.
#B. a.# ‘Archie of Cafield,’[323] Glenriddell MSS, XI, 14, 1791;
Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1802, I, 177. #b.# ‘Archie of Ca’field,’ Scott’s
Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 116.
#C.# ‘The Three Brothers,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland,
I, 111.
#D.# ‘Billie Archie,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 467, communicated by
Buchan, and by him derived from James Nicol of Strichen;
Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 335.
#E.# Macmath MS., p. 76, fragments.
#F.# Communicated by Mr J. M. Watson, of Clark’s Island, Plymouth
Harbor, Massachusetts.
#B a# was printed by Scott in the first edition of his Minstrelsy, with
the omission of stanzas 11, 13, 15^{3–6} (15^{3,4}, 16^{1,2}, of the
MS.), 17^{3,4} (18^{1,2} of the MS.), 27, 28, and with many editorial
improvements, besides Scotticising of the spelling. Of #B b#, the form
in which the ballad appears in the later edition of the Minstrelsy, the
editor says that he has been enabled to add several stanzas obtained
from recitation, of which he remarks that, “as they contrast the brutal
indifference of the elder brother with the zeal and spirit of his
associates, they add considerably to the dramatic effect of the whole.”
The new stanzas are ten, and partly displace some of #a#. None of the
omitted stanzas are restored, and the other changes previously made are
retained, except of course where new stanzas have been introduced.
This ballad is in all the salient features a repetition of ‘Jock o the
Side,’ Halls playing the parts of Armstrongs. The Halls are several
times complained of for reif and away-taking of ky, oxen, etc., in 1579.
There is a Jok Hall of the Sykis, Jok Hall, called Paitti’s Jok, a Jokie
Hall in the Clintis, and the name Archie Hall occurs, which is, to be
sure, a matter of very slight consequence. See the Register of the Privy
Council of Scotland, III, 236 f., 354 f. Cafield is about a mile west of
Langholm, in Wauchopedale. The Armstrongs had spread into Wauchopedale
in the sixteenth century, and Jock Armstrong of the Caffeild appears in
the Registers of the Privy Council, III, 43, 85, 133, 535. I have not
found Halls of Caffeild, and hope not to do them injustice by holding
that some friend or member of that sept has substituted their name, for
the glory of the family.[324]
From a passage in A History of Dumfries, by William Bennet, in The
Dumfries Monthly Magazine, III, 9 f., July, 1826 (kindly brought to my
attention by Mr Macmath), there appears to have been a version of this
ballad in which the Johnstones played the part of the Halls, or
Armstrongs; but against their enemies the Maxwells, not against the
public authority. A gentleman of Dumfries informed Bennet that he had
“often, in early life, listened to an interesting ballad, sung by an old
female chronicle of the town, which was founded upon the following
circumstance. In some fray between the Maxwells and Johnstones, the
former had taken the chief of the latter prisoner, and shut him up in
the jail of Dumfries, in Lochmaben gate; for in Dumfries they possessed
almost the same power as in the Stewartry of Annandale, Crichton of
Sanquhar, who was then hereditary sheriff of Nithsdale, being their
retainer. In a dark night shortly afterwards, a trusty band of the
Johnstones marched secretly into Dumfries, and, surprising the
jail-keepers, bore off their chief, manacled as he then was, and,
placing him behind one of their troopers, galloped off towards the head
of Locher, there to regain the Tinwald side and strike into the
mountains of Moffat before their enemies should have leisure to start in
pursuit. A band of the Maxwells, happening to be in town, and instantly
receiving the alarm, started in pursuit of the fugitives, and overtook
them about the dawn of morning, just as they had suddenly halted upon
the banks of the Locher, and seemed to hesitate about risking its
passage; for the stream was much swollen by a heavy rain which had
lately fallen, and seemed to threaten destruction to any who should dare
to enter it. On seeing the Maxwells, however, and reflecting upon the
comparative smallness of their own party, they plunged in, and, by
dextrous management, reached in safety the opposite bank at the moment
their pursuers drew up on the brink of that which they had left. The
Johnstones had now the decided advantage, for, had their enemies
ventured to cross, they could, while struggling against the current,
have been easily destroyed. The bloodthirsty warriors raged and shook
their weapons at each other across the stream; but the flood rolled on
as if in mockery of their threatenings, and the one party at length
galloped off in triumph, while the other was compelled to return in
disgrace.”
There are three Halls in #A#, #B#, #C#, brothers, of whom Archie is a
prisoner, condemned to die. The actors in #D# are not said to be
brothers or Halls; the prisoner is Archie, as before. In #A#, Jock the
laird and Dickie effect the rescue, assisted by Jocky Ha, a cousin. Dick
is the leader, Jocky Ha subordinate, and Jock the laird is the
despondent and repining personage, corresponding to Much in Jock o the
Side, #A#, #D#, and to the Laird’s Wat, #B#, #C#. In #B#, Dick is the
only brother named; he and Jokie Hall from Teviotdale effect the rescue;
Jokie Hall is prominent, and Dickie has the second place; Archie the
prisoner is faint-hearted, but, properly speaking, that part is omitted.
Jokie Hall represents Hobie Noble, who is the leader in #A# of the other
ballad, as Jokie is here in #B#, and also #C#; whereas Dick is the
leader in #A#, #D# of the ballad before us, and represents the Laird’s
Jock, who is principal in #B#, #C# of the other. In #B#, #C#, only two
are concerned in breaking the jail. In #C#, Dick loses heart, or has the
place of Much; in #D#, Caff o Lin.
In #A# 38, Jock the laird says his colt will drown him if he attempts to
cross the river; so Dick in #B# 23 (for it can be no other, though Dick
is not named) and in #C# 24, and Caff o Lin in #D# 14. They have not two
attacks of panic, as Much has in ‘Jock o the Side,’ #A#, with such
excellent effect in bringing out Hobie Noble’s steadiness. To make up
for this, however, the laird has an unheroic qualm after all is well
over, in #A# 44: the dearsome night has cost him Cawfield! It is a
fine-spirited answer that Dick makes: ‘Light o thy lands! we should not
have been three brothers.’ In one of the stanzas which Scott added in #B
b#, “coarse Ca’field,” that is, the laird again, is addressed
(inconsecutively, as the verses stand) with the like reproach: ‘Wad ye
even your lands to your born billy!’
Archie is prisoner at Dumfries in #A#, #B#, at Annan in #C#; in #D# no
place is mentioned. The route followed in #A# is Barnglish,[325] only
two or three miles westward, where the horseshoes are turned, 8; Bonshaw
wood, where they take counsel, 10; over the Annan at Hoddam, 12, to
Dumfries, 13; back by Bonshaw Shield, where they again take counsel, 29;
over the Annan at Annan Holm (Annan Bank?), opposite Wamphray (where the
Johnstones would be friendly), 31, to Cafield. Bonshaw Shield would have
to be somewhere between Dumfries and Annan Water; it seems to be an
erroneous repetition of the Bonshaw on the left of the Annan.
The route in #B# is The Murraywhat, where shoes are turned, 6; Dumfries,
8; back by Lochmaben, 17; The Murraywhat, where they file off the
shackles, 18; to and across the Annan. Here we may ask why the shoes are
not changed earlier; for The Murraywhat is on the west side of the
Annan. The route in #C# is not described; there is no reason, if they
start from Cafield (see 23), why they should cross the Annan, the town
being on the eastern side. All difficulties are escaped in #D# by giving
no names.
The New England copy, #F#, naturally enough, names no places. There are
three brothers, as in #A#, #B#, #C#, and Dickie is the leader. The
prisoner, here called Archer, gives up hope when he comes to the river;
his horse is lame and cannot swim; but horses are shifted, and he gets
over. His spirits are again dashed when he sees the sheriff in pursuit.
#A#, 6^2, 14^2, 16^4, ‘for leugh o Liddesdale cracked he,’ is explained
by #B a#, 10^2, ‘fra the laigh of Tiviotdale was he;’ he bragged for
lower Liddesdale, was from lower Liddesdale; it seems to be a sort of
εὔχετο εἶναι. #B b# reads (that is, Scott corrects), ‘The luve of
Teviotdale was he.’ #B a#, 16^4, ‘And her girth was the gold-twist to
be,’ is unintelligible to me, and appears to be corrupt, #b# reads, And
that was her gold-twist to be, an emendation of Scott’s, gold-twist
meaning “the small gilded chains drawn across the chest of a war-horse.”
The three stanzas introduced in #B b# after 7 (the colloquy with the
smith) are indifferent modern stuff. This and something worse are #C#
14, where Johnny Ha takes the prisoner on his back and _leads_ the mare,
the refreshments in 16, 17, and the sheriff in 19–21, 28, 29.
A
Communicated to Percy by Miss Fisher of Carlisle, 1780.
1
Late in an evening forth as I went,
’Twas on the dawning of the day;
I heard two brothers make their moan,
I listend well what they did say.
2
. . . . . . .
. . . . . .
We were three born brethren,
There[s] one of us condemnd to die.
3
Then up bespake Jock the laird:
‘If I had but a hundre men,
A hundred o th best i Christenty,
I wad go on to fair Dumfries, I wad loose
my bro_the_r and set him free.’
4
So up bespak then Dicky Ha,
He was the wisest o the three:
‘A hundre men we’ll never get,
Neither for gold nor fee,
But some of them will us betray;
They’l neither fight for gold nor fee.
5
‘Had I but ten well-wight men,
Ten o the best i Christenty,
I w_a_d gae on to fair Dumfries,
I w_a_d loose my bro_th_er and set him free.
6
‘Jocky Ha, our cousin, ’s be the first man’
(For leugh o Liddesdale cracked he);
‘An ever we come till a pinch,
He’ll be as good as ony three.’
7
They mounted ten well-wight men,
Ten o the best i Christenty;
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
8
There was horsing and horsing of haste,
And cracking o whips out oer the lee,
Till they came to fair Barngliss,
And they ca’d the smith right quietly.
9
He has shod them a’ their horse,
He’s shod them siccer and honestly,
And he as turnd the cawkers backwards oer,
Where foremost they were wont to be.
10
And there was horsing, horsing of haste,
And cracking of whips out oer the lee,
Until they came to the Bonshaw wood,
Where they held their council privately.
11
Some says, We’ll gang the Annan road,
It is the better road, s_ai_d they;
Up bespak then Dicky Ha,
The wisest of that company.
12
‘Annan road’s a publick road,
It’s no the road that makes for me;
But we will through at Hoddam ford,
It is the better road,’ said he.
13
And there was horsing, horsing o haste,
And cracking of whips out oer the lea,
Until they came to fair Dumfries,
And it was newly strucken three.
14
Up bespake then Jocky Ha,
For leugh o Liddesdale cracked he:
‘I have a mare, they ca her Meg,
She is the best i Christenty;
An ever we come till a pinch,
She’ll bring awa both thee and me.’
15
‘But five we’ll leave to had our horse,
And five will watch, guard for to be;
Who is the man,’ said Dicky then,
‘To the prison-door will go with me?’
16
Up bespak then Jocky Ha,
For leugh o Liddesdale cracked he:
‘I am the man,’ said Jocky than,
‘To the prison-door I’ll go with thee.’
17
They are up the jail-stair,
They stepped it right soberly,
Until they came to the jail-door;
They ca’d the prisoner quietly.
18
‘O sleeps thou, wakest thou, Archie, my billy?
O sleeps thou, wakes thou, dear billy?’
‘Sometimes I sleep, sometimes I wake;
But who’s that knows my name so well?’ [said he.]
‘I am thy brother Dicky,’ he says;
‘This night I’m come to borrow thee.’
19
But up bespake the prisoner then,
And O but he spake woefully!
‘Today has been a justice-court,
. . . . . . .
And a’ Liddesdale were here the night,
The morn’s the day at I’se to die.’
20
‘What is thy crime, Archie, my billy?
What is the crime they lay to thee?’
‘I brake a spear i the warden’s breast,
For saving my master’s land,’ said he.
21
‘If that be a’ the crime they lay to thee, Archie, my billy,
If that be the crime they lay to thee,
Work thou within, and me without,
And thro good strength I’ll borrow thee.’
22
‘I cannot work, billy,’ he says,
‘I cannot work, billy, with thee,
For fifteen stone of Spanish iron
Lyes fast to me with lock and key.’
23
When Dicky he heard that,
‘Away, thou crabby chiel!’ cried he;
He’s taen the door aye with his foot,
And fast he followd it with his knee.
Till a’ the bolts the door hung on,
O th’ prison-floor he made them flee.
24
‘Thou’s welcome, welcome, Archy, my billy,
Thou’s aye right dear welcome to me;
There shall be straiks this day,’ he said,
‘This day or thou be taen from me.’
25
He’s got the prisoner on o his back,
He’s gotten him irons and aw,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
26
Up bespake then Jocky Ha,
‘Let some o th’ prisoner lean on me;’
‘The diel o there,’ quo Dicky than,
‘He’s no the wightdom of a flea.’
27
They are on o that gray mare,
And they are on o her aw three,
And they linked the irons about her neck,
And galloped the street right wantonly.
28
‘To horse, to horse,’ then, ‘all,’ he says,
‘Horse ye with all the might ye may,
For the jailor he will waken next;
And the prisoners had a’ wan away.’
29
There was horsing, horsing of haste,
And cracking o whips out oer the lea,
Until they came to the Bonshaw Shield;
There they held their council privately.
30
Some says, ‘We’ll gang the Annan road;
It is the better road,’ said they;
But up bespak than Dicky Ha,
The wisest of that company:
31
‘Annan road’s a publick road,
It’s not the road that makes for me;
But we will through at Annan Holme,
It is the better road,’ said he;
‘An we were in at Wamfrey Gate,
The Johnstones they will a’ help me.’
32
But Dicky lookd oer his left shoulder,
I wait a wiley look gave he;
He spied the leiutenant coming,
And a hundre men of his company.
33
‘So horse ye, horse ye, lads!’ he said,
‘O horse ye, sure and siccerly!
For yonder is the lieuten_an_t,
With a hundred men of his company.’
34
There was horsing, horsing of haste,
And cracking o whips out oer the lea,
Until they came to Annan Holme,
And it was running like a sea.
35
But up bespake the lieutenant,
Until a bonny lad said he,
‘Who is the man,’ said the leiuten_an_t,
‘Rides foremost of yon company?’
36
Then up bespake the bonny lad,
Until the lieuten_an_t said he,
‘Some men do ca him Dicky Ha,
Rides foremost of yon company.’
37
‘O haste ye, haste ye!’ said the leiuten_an_t,
‘Pursue with a’ the might ye may!
For the man had needs to be well saint
That comes thro the hands o Dicky Ha.’
38
But up bespak Jock the laird,
‘This has been a dearsome night to me;
I’ve a colt of four years old,
I wait he wannelld like the wind;
If ever he come to the deep,
He will plump down, leave me behind.’
39
‘Wae light o thee and thy horse baith, Jock,
And even so thy horse and thee!
Take thou mine, and I’ll take thine,
Foul fa the warst horse i th’ company!
I’ll cast the prisoner me behind;
There’ll no man die but him that’s fee.’
40
There they’ve a’taen the flood,
And they have taen it hastily;
Dicky was the hindmost took the flood,
And foremost on the land stood he.
41
Dicky’s turnd his horse about,
And he has turnd it hastilly:
‘Come through, come thro, my lieuten_an_t,
Come thro this day, and drink wi me,
And thy dinner’s be dressd in Annan Holme,
It sall not cost thee one penny.’
42
‘I think some witch has bore the, Dicky,
Or some devil in hell been thy daddy;
I w_ou_d not swum that wan water double-horsed,
For a’ the gold in Christenty.
43
‘But throw me thro my irons, Dicky,
I wait they cost me full dear;’
‘O devil be there,’ quo Jocky Hall,
‘They’l be good shoon to my gray mare.’
44
O up bespoke then Jock the laird,
‘This has been a dearsome night to me;
For yesternight the Cawfield was my ain,
Landsman again I neer sall be.’
45
‘Now wae light o thee and thy lands baith, Jock,
And even so baith the land and thee!
For gear will come and gear will gang,
But three brothers again we never were to be.’
B
#a.# Glenriddell MSS, XI, 14, 1791, “an old West Border ballad.”
#b.# Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 116.
1
As I was walking mine alane,
It was by the dawning o the day,
I heard twa brothers make their maine,
And I listned well what they did say.
2
The eldest to the youngest said,
‘O dear brother, how can this be!
There was three brethren of us born,
And one of us is condemnd to die.’
3
‘O chuse ye out a hundred men,
A hundred men in Christ[e]ndie,
And we’ll away to Dumfries town,
And set our billie Archie free.’
4
‘A hundred men you cannot get,
Nor yet sixteen in Christendie;
For some of them will us betray,
And other some will work for fee.
5
‘But chuse ye out eleven men,
And we ourselves thirteen will be,
And we’ill away to Dumfries town,
And borrow bony billie Archie.’
6
There was horsing, horsing in haste,
And there was marching upon the lee,
Untill they came to the Murraywhat,
And they lighted a’ right speedylie.
7
‘A smith, a smith!’ Dickie he crys,
‘A smith, a smith, right speedily,
To turn back the cakers of our horses feet!
For it is forward we woud be.’
8
There was a horsing, horsing in haste,
There was marching on the lee,
Untill they came to Dumfries port,
And there they lighted right manfulie.
9
‘Thereś six of us will hold the horse,
And other five watchmen will be;
But who is the man among you a’
Will go to the Tolbooth door wi me?’
10
O up then spake Jokie Hall
(Fra the laigh of Tiviotdale was he),
‘If it should cost my life this very night,
I’ll ga to the Tollbooth door wi thee.’
11
‘O sleepst thou, wakest thow, Archie laddie?
O sleepst thou, wakest thow, dear billie?’
‘I sleep but saft, I waken oft,
For the morn’s the day that I man die.’
12
‘Be o good cheer now, Archie lad,
Be o good cheer now, dear billie;
Work thow within and I without,
And the morn thou’s dine at Cafield wi me.’
13
‘O work, O work, Archie?’ he cries,
‘O work, O work? ther’s na working for me;
For ther’s fifteen stane o Spanish iron,
And it lys fow sair on my body.’
14
O Jokie Hall stept to the door,
And he bended it back upon his knee,
And he made the bolts that the door hang on
Jump to the wa right wantonlie.
15
He took the prisoner on his back,
And down the Tollbooth stairs came he;
Out then spak Dickie and said,
Let some o the weight fa on me;
‘O shame a ma!’ co Jokie Ha,
‘For he’s no the weight of a poor flee.’
16
The gray mare stands at the door,
And I wat neer a foot stirt she,
Till they laid the links out oer her neck,
And her girth was the gold-twist to be.
17
And they came down thro Dumfries town,
And O but they came bonily!
Untill they came to Lochmaben port,
And they leugh a’ the night manfulie.
18
There was horsing, horsing in haste,
And there was marching on the lee,
Untill they came to the Murraywhat,
And they lighted a’ right speedilie.
19
‘A smith, a smith!’ Dickie he cries,
‘A smith, a smith, right speedilie,
To file off the shakles fra my dear brother!
For it is forward we wad be.’
20
They had not filtt a shakle of iron,
A shakle of iron but barely three,
Till out then spake young Simon brave,
‘Ye do na see what I do see.
21
‘Lo yonder comes Liewtenant Gordon,
And a hundred men in his company:’
‘O wo is me!’ then Archie cries,
‘For I’m the prisoner, and I must die.’
22
O there was horsing, horsing in haste,
And there was marching upon the lee,
Untill they came to Annan side,
And it was flowing like the sea.
23
‘I have a colt, and he’s four years old,
And he can amble like the wind,
But when he comes to the belly deep,
He lays himself down on the ground.’
24
‘But I have a mare, and they call her Meg.
And she’s the best in Christendie;
Set ye the prisoner me behind;
Ther’ll na man die but he that’s fae!’
25
Now they did swim that wan water,
And O but they swam bonilie!
Untill they came to the other side,
And they wrang their cloathes right drunk[i]lie.
26
‘Come through, come through, Lieutenant Gordon!
Come through, and drink some wine wi me!
For ther’s a ale-house neer hard by,
And it shall not cost thee one penny.’
27
‘Throw me my irons, Dickie!’ he cries,
‘For I wat they cost me right dear;’
‘O shame a ma!’ cries Jokie Ha,
‘For they’ll be good shoon to my gray mare.’
28
‘Surely thy minnie has been some witch,
Or thy dad some warlock has been;
Else thow had never attempted such,
Or to the bottom thow had gone.
29
‘Throw me my irons, Dickie!’ he cries,
‘For I wot they cost me dear enough;’
‘O shame a ma!’ cries Jokie Ha,
‘They’ll be good shakles to my plough.’
30
‘Come through, come through, Liewtenant Gordon!
Come throw, and drink some wine wi me!
For yesterday I was your prisoner,
But now the night I am set free.’
C
Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 111.
1
As I walked on a pleasant green—
’Twas on the first morning of May—
I heard twa brothers make their moan,
And hearkend well what they did say.
2
The first he gave a grievous sigh,
And said, Alas, and wae is me!
We hae a brother condemned to death,
And the very morn must hanged be.
3
Then out it speaks him Little Dick,
I wat a gude fellow was he:
‘Had I three men unto mysell,
Well borrowed shoud Bell Archie be.’
4
Out it speaks him Johnny Ha,
A better fellow by far was he:
‘Ye shall hae six men and yoursell,
And me to bear you companie.
5
‘Twa for keepers o the guard,
See that to keep it sickerlie,
And twa to come, and twa to gang,
And twa to speak wi Bell Archie.
6
‘But we winna gang like men o weir,
Nor yet will we like cavalliers;
But we will gang like corn-buyers,
And we’ll put brechens on our mares.’
7
Then they are to the jail-house doors,
And they hae tirled at the pin:
‘Ye sleep ye, wake ye, Bell Archie?
Quickly rise, lat us come in.’
8
‘I sleep not aft, I lie not saft;
Wha’s there that knocks and kens my name?’
‘It is your brothers Dick and John;
Ye’ll open the door, lat us come in.’
9
‘Awa, awa, my brethren dear,
And ye’ll had far awa frae me;
If ye be found at jail-house door,
I fear like dogs they’ll gar ye die.’
10
‘Ohon, alas! my brother dear,
Is this the hearkning ye gie to me?
If ye’ll work therein as we thereout,
Well borrowd shoud your body be.’
11
‘How can I work therein, therein,
Or yet how can I work thereout,
When fifty tons o Spanish iron
Are my fair body round about?’
12
He put his fingers to the lock,
I wat he handled them sickerlie,
And doors of deal, and bands of steel,
He gart them all in flinders flee.
13
He’s taen the prisoner in his arms,
And he has kissd him cheek and chin:
‘Now since we’ve met, my brother dear,
There shall be dunts ere we twa twine.’
14
He’s taen the prisoner on his back,
And a’ his heavy irons tee,
But and his marie in his hand,
And straight to Annan gate went he.
15
But when they came to Annan water,
It was roaring like the sea:
‘O stay a little, Johnny Ha,
Here we can neither fecht nor flee.
16
‘O a refreshment we maun hae,
We are baith dry and hungry tee;
We’ll gang to Robert’s at the mill,
It stands upon yon lily lee.’