She pu’d him frae the milk-white steed, And loot the bridle fa’; And up there raise an erlish cry-- “He’s won amang us a’!”--
They shaped him in fair Janet’s arms, A tod, but and an eel; She held him fast in every shape-- As she did love him weel.
They shaped him in her arms at last, A mother-naked man; She wrapt him in her green mantle, And sae her true love wan!
Up then spake the queen o’ fairies, Out o’ a bush o’ broom-- “She that has borrow’d young Tamlane, Has gotten a stately groom.”--
Up then spake the queen o’ Fairies, Out o’ a bush o’ rye-- “She’s ta’en awa the bonniest knight In a’ my cumpanie.
“But had I kenn’d, Tamlane,” she says, “A ladye wad borrow’d thee-- I wad ta’en out thy twa grey een, Put in twa een o’ tree.
“Had I but kenn’d, Tamlane,” she says, “Before ye came frae hame-- I wad ta’en out your heart o’ flesh, Put in a heart o’ stane.”
“Had I but had the wit yestreen That I hae coft the day-- I’d paid my kane seven times to hell Ere you’d been won away!”
There lived a wife at Usher’s Well, And a wealthy wife was she, She had three stout and stalwart sons, And sent them o’er the sea.
They hadna been a week from her, A week but barely ane, When word came back to the carline wife, That her three sons were gane.
They hadna been a week from her, A week but barely three, When word came to the carline wife, That her sons she’d never see.
“I wish the wind may never cease, Nor fashes in the flood, Till my three sons come hame to me, In earthly flesh and blood!”--
It fell about the Martinmas, When nights are lang and mirk, The carline wife’s three sons cam hame, And their hats were o’ the birk.
It neither grew in syke nor ditch, Nor yet in ony sheugh; But at the gates o’ Paradise, That birk grew fair eneuch.
“Blow up the fire, my maidens! Bring water from the well! For a’ my house shall feast this night, Since my three sons are well.”--
And she has made to them a bed, She’s made it large and wide; And she’s ta’en her mantle her about, Sat down at the bedside.
Up then crew the red red cock, And up and crew the gray; The eldest to the youngest said, “’Tis time we were away.”--
The cock he hadna craw’d but ance, And clapp’d his wings at a’, When the youngest to the eldest said, “Brother, we must awa.--