Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Part 5

'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again, That vile rank witch of vilest kind.

22.

'And say your ladie has a girdle, It's red gowd unto the middle.

23.

'And ay at every silver hem Hangs fifty silver bells and ten.

24.

'That goodlie gift sall be her ain, And let me be lighter of my young bairn.'

25.

'O' her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, Nor in her bower to s.h.i.+ne the brighter.

26.

'But she shall die and turn to clay, And you shall wed another may.'

27.

'Another may I'll never wed, Another may I'll ne'er bring hame.'

28.

But sighing says that weary wight, 'I wish my life were at an end.'

29.

Then out and spake the Belly Blind; He spake aye in good time.

30.

'Ye doe ye to the market place, And there ye buy a loaf o' wax.

31.

'Ye shape it bairn and bairnly like, And in twa gla.s.sen een ye pit;

32.

'And bid her come to your boy's christening; Then notice weel what she shall do.

33.

'And do you stand a little forebye, And listen weel what she shall say.'

34.

'O wha has loosed the nine witch knots That was amo' that ladie's locks?

35.

'And wha has taen out the kaims of care That hangs amo' that ladie's hair?

36.

'And wha's taen down the bush o' woodbine That hang atween her bower and mine?

37.

'And wha has kill'd the master kid That ran beneath that ladie's bed?

38.

'And wha has loosed her left-foot shee, And lotten that lady lighter be?'

39.

O Willie has loosed the nine witch knots That was amo' that ladie's locks.

40.

And Willie's taen out the kaims o' care That hang amo' that ladie's hair.

41.

And Willie's taen down the bush o' woodbine That hang atween her bower and thine.

42.

And Willie has killed the master kid That ran beneath that ladie's bed.

43.

And Willie has loosed her left-foot shee, And letten his ladie lighter be.

44.

And now he's gotten a bonny young son, And mickle grace be him upon.

[Annotations: 19: 'I'll' is 'I' in both lines in the MS.

24.1: 'sall' is Scott's emendation for _has_ in the MS.]

THE WEE WEE MAN

+The Text+ is that of Herd's MS. and his _Scots Songs_. Other versions vary very slightly, and this is the oldest of them.

There is a fourteenth-century MS. (in the Cotton collection) containing a poem not unlike _The Wee Wee Man_; but there is no justification in deriving the ballad from the poem, which may be found in Ritson's _Ancient Songs_ (1829), i. p. 40.

Scott incorporates the story with _The Young Tamlane_.

THE WEE WEE MAN

1.

As I was wa'king all alone, Between a water and a wa', And there I spy'd a wee wee man, And he was the least that ere I saw.

2.

His legs were scarce a shathmont's length, And thick and thimber was his thigh; Between his brows there was a span, And between his shoulders there was three.

3.

He took up a meikle stane, And he flang 't as far as I could see; Though I had been a Wallace wight, I couldna liften't to my knee.