Fair Mary of Wallington
No: 91; variant: 91C
- 'O WE were sisters seven, Maisry,
And five are dead wi child;
There is nane but you and I, Maisry,
And we'll go maidens mild.'
- She hardly had the word spoken,
And turnd her round about,
When the bonny Earl of Livingston
Was calling Maisry out.
- Upon a bonny milk-white steed,
That drank out o the Tyne,
And a' was for her Lady Maisry,
To take her hyne and hyne.
- Upon a bonny milk-white steed,
That drank out o the Tay,
And a' was for her Lady Maisry,
To carry her away.
- She had not been at Livingston
A twelve month and a day,
Until she was as big wi bairn
As any ladie coud gae.
- She calld upon her little foot-page,
Says, Ye maun run wi speed,
And bid my mother come to me,
For of her I'll soon have need.
- 'See, there is the brootch frae my hause-bane,
It is of gowd sae ried;
Gin she winna come when I'm alive,
Bid her come when I am dead.'
- But ere she wan to Livingston,
As fast as she coud ride,
The gaggs they were in Maisry's mouth,
And the sharp sheers in her side.
- Her good lord wrang his milk-white hands,
Till the gowd rings flaw in three:
'Let ha's and bowers and a' gae waste,
My bonny love's taen frae me!'
- 'O hold your tongue, Lord Livingston,
Let a' your mourning be;
For I bare the bird between my sides,
Yet I maun thole her to die.'
- Then out it spake her sister dear,
As she sat at her head:
'That man is not in Christendoom
Shall gar me die sicken dead.'
- 'O hold your tongue, my ae daughter,
Let a' your folly be,
For ye shall be married ere this day week
Tho the same death you should die.'