Ballad Book | Page 8

with sickness sair did
ail.
Janet has kilted her green kirtle
A little aboon her knee,
And she
has snooded her yellow hair
A little aboon her bree,
And she's awa
to Carterhaugh,
As fast as she can hie.
She hadna pu'd a rose, a rose,
A rose but barely twae,
When up
there started young Tamlane,
Says, "Lady, thou pu's nae mae."
"Now ye maun tell the truth," she said,
A word ye maunna lie;
O,
were ye ever in haly chapel,
Or sained in Christentie?"
"The truth I'll tell to thee, Janet,
A word I winna lie;
I was ta'en to
the good church-door,
And sained as well as thee.
"Randolph, Earl Murray, was my sire,
Dunbar, Earl March, was thine;

We loved when we were children small,
Which yet you well may
mind.

"When I was a boy just turned of nine,
My uncle sent for me,
To
hunt, and hawk, and ride with him,
And keep him companie.
"There came a wind out of the north,
A sharp wind and a snell,
And
a dead sleep came over me,
And frae my horse I fell;
The Queen of
Fairies she was there,
And took me to hersell.
"And we, that live in Fairy-land,
Nae sickness know nor pain;
I quit
my body when I will,
And take to it again.
"I quit my body when I please,
Or unto it repair;
We can inhabit at
our ease
In either earth or air.
"Our shapes and size we can convert
To either large or small;
An
old nut-shell's the same to us
As is the lofty hall.
"We sleep in rose-buds soft and sweet,
We revel in the stream;
We
wanton lightly on the wind,
Or glide on a sunbeam.
"And never would I tire, Janet,
In fairy-land to dwell;
But aye, at
every seven years,
They pay the teind to hell;
And I'm sae fat and
fair of flesh,
I fear 'twill be mysell!
"The morn at e'en is Hallowe'en;
Our fairy court will ride,
Through
England and through Scotland baith,
And through the warld sae wide,

And if that ye wad borrow me,
At Miles Cross ye maun bide.
"And ye maun gae to the Miles Cross,
Between twelve hours and one,

Tak' haly water in your hand,
And cast a compass roun'."
"But how shall I thee ken, Tamlane,
And how shall I thee knaw,

Amang the throng o' fairy folk,
The like I never saw?"
"The first court that comes alang,
Ye'll let them a' pass by;
The
neist court that comes alang
Salute them reverently.

"The third court that comes alang
Is clad in robes o' green,
And it's
the head court of them a',
And in it rides the Queen.
"And I upon a milk-white steed,
Wi' a gold star in my croun;

Because I am a christen'd knight
They give me that renoun.
'First let pass the black, Janet,
And syne let pass the broun,
But grip
ye to the milk-white steed,
And pu' the rider doun.
"My right hand will be glov'd, Janet,
My left hand will be bare,
And
thae's the tokens I gie thee;
Nae doubt I will be there.
"Ye'll seize upon me with a spring,
And to the ground I'll fa',
And
then you'll hear an elrish cry
That Tamlane is awa'.
"They'll turn me in your arms, Janet,
An adder and a snake;
But
haud me fast, let me not pass,
Gin ye would be my maik.
"They'll turn me in your arms, Janet,
An adder and an aske;
They'll
turn me in your arms, Janet,
A bale that burns fast.
"They'll shape me in your arms, Janet,
A dove, but and a swan:
And
last they'll shape me in your arms
A mother-naked man:
Cast your
green mantle over me--
And sae shall I be wan!"
Gloomy, gloomy was the night,
And eerie was the way,
As fair
Janet, in her green mantle,
To Miles Cross she did gae.
About the dead hour o' the night
She heard the bridles ring,
And
Janet was as glad o' that
As ony earthly thing.
There's haly water in her hand,
She casts a compass round;
And
straight she sees a fairy band
Come riding o'er the mound.
And first gaed by the black, black steed,
And then gaed by the broun;


But fast she gript the milk-white steed,
And pu'd the rider doun.
She pu'd him frae the milk-white steed,
And loot the bridle fa';
And
up there raise an elrish cry;
"He's won amang us a'!"
They shaped him in fair Janet's arms
An aske, but and an adder;
She
held him fast in every shape,
To be her ain true lover.
They shaped him in her arms at last
A mother-naked man,
She cuist
her mantle over him,
And sae her true love wan.
Up then spake the Queen o' Fairies,
Out of a bush o' broom:
"She
that has borrowed young Tamlane,
Has gotten a stately groom!"
Up then spake the Queen o' Fairies,
Out of a bush of rye:
"She's
ta'en away the bonniest knight
In a' my companie!
"But had I kenned, Tamlane," she says,
"A lady wad borrow thee,
I
wad hae ta'en out thy twa gray e'en,
Put in twa e'en o' tree!
"Had I but kenned, Tamlane," she says,
"Before ye came frae hame,

I wad hae ta'en out your heart of flesh,
Put in a heart o' stane!
"Had I but had the