He ne'er was seene to laugh nor smile, But weepe and make great moane; Lamenting still his miseries, 115 And dayes forepast and gone. If he heare any one blaspheme, Or take God's name in vaine, He telles them that they crucifie Their Saviour Christe againe. 120
"If you had seene his death," saith he, "As these mine eyes have done, Ten thousand thousand times would yee His torments think upon, And suffer for his sake all paine 125 Of torments, and all woes:" These are his wordes, and eke his life, Whereas he comes or goes.
From _Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border_, iii. 32. This copy of the ballad is imperfect. A complete version is inserted in the Appendix from Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_, i. 91. There is another, also defective, called _The Bonny Hind Squire_, in _Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads_, p. 42, Percy Soc. vol. xvii.
'Twas on a night, an evening bright, When the dew began to fa', Lady Margaret was walking up and down, Looking o'er her castle wa'.
She looked east, and she looked west, 5 To see what she could spy, When a gallant knight came in her sight, And to the gate drew nigh.
"You seem to be no gentleman, You wear your boots so wide; 10 But you seem to be some cunning hunter, You wear the horn so syde."
"I am no cunning hunter," he said, "Nor ne'er intend to be; But I am come to this castle 15 To seek the love of thee; And if you do not grant me love, This night for thee I'll die."
"If you should die for me, sir knight, There's few for you will mane, 20 For mony a better has died for me Whose graves are growing green.
"But ye maun read my riddle," she said, "And answer me questions three; And but ye read them right," she said, 25 "Gae stretch ye out and die.
"Now what is the flower, the ae first flower, Springs either on moor or dale? And what is the bird, the bonnie bonnie bird, Sings on the evening gale?" 30
"The primrose is the ae first flower Springs either on moor or dale; And the thristlecock is the bonniest bird Sings on the evening gale."
"But what's the little coin," she said, 35 "Wald buy my castle bound? And what's the little boat," she said, "Can sail the world all round?"
"O hey, how mony small pennies Make thrice three thousand pound? 40 Or hey, how mony small fishes Swim a' the salt sea round?"