14. 'Oh no, oh no, my brither dear, The clans they are ower strang, An' they drive back our merry men, Wi' swords baith sharp an' lang.'
15. Brave Forbës drew his men aside, Said 'Tak' your rest awhile, Until I to Drumminnor send, To fess my coat o' mail.'
16. The servant he did ride, An' his horse it did na fail, For in twa hours an' a quarter He brocht the coat o' mail.
17. Then back to back the brithers twa Gaed in amo' the thrang, An' they hewed doun the Hielan'men, Wi' swords baith sharp an' lang.
18. Macdonell he was young an' stout, Had on his coat o' mail, An' he has gane oot throw them a', To try his han' himsell.
19. The first ae straik that Forbës strack, He garrt Macdonell reel, An' the neist ae straik that Forbës strack, The great Macdonell fell.
20. An' siccan a lierachie I'm sure ye never saw As wis amo' the Hielan'men, When they saw Macdonell fa'.
21. An' whan they saw that he was deid, They turn'd an' ran awa, An' they buried him in Leggett's Den, A large mile frae Harlaw.
22. They rade, they ran, an' some did gang, They were o' sma' record; But Forbës an' his merry men, They slew them a' the road.
23. On Monanday, at mornin', The battle it began, On Saturday, at gloamin', Ye'd scarce kent wha had wan.
24. An' sic a weary buryin' I'm sure ye never saw As wis the Sunday after that, On the muirs aneath Harlaw.
25. Gin ony body speer at you For them ye took awa', Ye may tell their wives and bairnies They're sleepin' at Harlaw.
[Annotations: 15.4: 'fess,' fetch. 19.1: 'ae,' one. 20.1: 'lierachie,' confusion, hubbub. 25.1: 'speer at,' ask of.]
+The Text+ was sent to Percy in 1768 by R. Lambe of Norham. The ballad is widely known in Scotland under several titles, but the most usual is _The Broom of Cowdenknows_, which was the title used by Scott in the _Minstrelsy_.
+The Story+ is not consistently told in this version, as in 11.3,4 the daughter gives away her secret to her father in an absurd fashion.
An English song, printed as a broadside about 1640, _The Lovely Northerne Lasse_, is directed to be sung 'to a pleasant Scotch tune, called The broom of Cowden Knowes.' It is a poor variant of our ballad, in the usual broadside style, and cannot have been written by any one fully acquainted with the Scottish ballad. It is in the Roxburghe, Douce, and other collections.