Syne they came on to a garden green, And she pu’d an apple frae a tree: “Take this for thy wages, True Thomas; It will give the tongue that can never lie.”
“My tongue is mine ain,” True Thomas said, “A gudely gift ye wad gie to me! I neither dought to buy nor sell, At fair or tryst where I may be.
“I dought neither speak to prince or peer, Nor ask of grace from fair ladye.” “Now hold thy peace!” the lady said, “For as I say so must it be.”
He has gotten a coat of the even cloth, And a pair of shoes of velvet green; And till seven years were gane and past, True Thomas on earth was never seen.
He mounted his steed of the water clear, And sat on his saddle of sea-weed sere; He held his bridle of strings of pearl, Dug out of the depths where the sea-snakes curl.
He put on his vest of the whirlpool froth, Soft and dainty as velvet cloth, And donned his mantle of sand so white, And grasped his sword of the coral bright.
And away he galloped, a horseman free, Spurring his steed through the stormy sea, Clearing the billows with bound and leap-- Away, away, o’er the foaming deep!
By Scarba’s rock, by Lunga’s shore, By Garveloch isles where the breakers roar, With his horse’s hoofs he dashed the spray, And on to Loch Buy, away, away!
On to Loch Buy all day he rode, And reached the shore as sunset glowed, And stopped to hear the sounds of joy That rose from the hills and glens of Moy.
The morrow was May, and on the green They’d lit the fire of Beltan E’en, And danced around, and piled it high With peat and heather and pine-logs dry.
A piper played a lightsome reel, And timed the dance with toe and heel; While wives looked on, as lad and lass Trod it merrily o’er the grass.
And Jessie (fickle and fair was she) Sat with Evan beneath a tree, And smiled with mingled love and pride, And half agreed to be his bride.
The Kelpie galloped o’er the green-- He seemed a Knight of noble mien, And old and young stood up to see, And wondered who the Knight could be.
His flowing locks were auburn bright, His cheeks were ruddy, his eyes flashed light; And as he sprang from his good grey steed, He looked a gallant youth indeed.
And Jessie’s fickle heart beat high, As she caught the stranger’s glancing eye: And when he smiled, “Ah, well,” thought she, “I wish this Knight came courting me!”