He has ta’en the laird’s jack
on his back,
A twa-handed sword to hang by his thie;
He has ta’en a steil cap on his
head,
And gallopped on to follow Dickie.
Dickie was na a mile frae aff the town,
I wat a mile but barely three,
When he was o’erta’en by fair
Johnie Armstrang,
Hand for hand, on Cannobie lee.
“Abide, abide, thou traitour thief!
The day is come that thou maun die.”
Then Dickie look’t owre his left
shoulder,
Said—“Johnie, hast thou
nae mae in cumpanie?
“There is a preacher in our chapell,
And a’ the live lang day teaches
he:
When day is gane, and night is come,
There’s ne’er ae word I mark
but three.
“The first and second is—Faith
and Conscience;
The third—Ne’er let a
traitour free:
But, Johnie, what faith and conscience
was thine,
When thou took awa my three ky frae me?
“And when thou had ta’en awa
my three ky,
Thou thought in thy heart thou wast not
weil sped,
Till thou sent thy billie Willie ower
the know,
To take thrie coverlets off my wife’s
bed!”
Then Johnie let a speir fa’ laigh
by his thie,
Thought well to hae slain the innocent,
I trow;
But the powers above were mair than he,
For he ran but the puir fule’s jerkin
through.
Together they ran, or ever they blan;
This was Dickie the fule and he!
Dickie could na win at him wi’ the
blade o’ the sword,
But fell’d him wi’ the plummet
under the e’e.
Thus Dickie has fell’d fair Johnie
Armstrang,
The prettiest man in the south country—–
“Gramercy!” then can Dickie
say,
“I had but twa horse, thou hast
made me thrie!”
He’s ta’en the steil jack
aff Johnie’s back,
The twa-handed sword that hang low by
his thie;
He’s ta’en the steil cap aff
his head—
“Johnie, I’ll tell my master
I met wi’ thee.”
When Johnie wakened out o’ his dream,
I wat a dreirie man was he:
“And is thou gane? Now, Dickie,
than
The shame and dule is left wi’ me.
“And is thou gane? Now, Dickie,
than
The deil gae in thy cumpanie!
For if I should live these hundred years,
I ne’er shall fight wi’ a
fule after thee.”—
Then Dickie’s come hame to the gude
Lord Scroope,
E’en as fast as he might his;
“Now, Dickie, I’ll neither
eat nor drink,
Till hie hanged thou shalt be.”
“The shame speed the liars, my lord!”
quo’ Dickie;
“This was na the promise ye made
to me!
For I’d ne’er gane to Liddesdale
to steal,
Had I not got my leave frae thee.”
“But what garr’d thee steal
the Laird’s Jock’s horse?
And, limmer, what garr’d ye steal
him?” quo’ he;
“For lang thou mightst in Cumberland
dwelt,
Ere the Laird’s Jock had stown frae
thee.”
“Indeed I wat ye lied, my lord!
And e’en sae loud as I hear ye lie!
I wan the horse frae fair Johnie Armstrong,
Hand to hand, on Cannobie lee.