6.  Saddled and bridled
          and booted rade he;
        Toom hame cam the saddle,
          but never cam he.

     [Footnote 84:  Empty.]

     BESSIE BELL AND MARY GRAY[85]

     1.  O Bessie Bell and Mary Gray,
          They war twa bonnie lasses! 
        They biggit[86] a bower on yon burn-brae[87],
          And theekit[88] it oer wi rashes.

     2.  They theekit it oer wi’ rashes green,
          They theekit it oer wi’ heather: 
        But the pest cam frae the burrows-town,
          And slew them baith thegither.

     3.  They thought to lie in Methven kirk-yard
          Amang their noble kin;
        But they maun lye in Stronach haugh,
          To biek forenent the sin[89].

     4.  And Bessie Bell and Mary Gray,
          They war twa bonnie lasses;
        They biggit a bower on yon burn-brae,
          And theekit it oer wi’ rashes.

THE THREE RAVENS[90]

1.  There were three ravens sat on a tree,
Downe a downe, hay down, hay downe[91],
There were three ravens sat on a tree, With a downe. 
There were three ravens sat on a tree,
They were as blacke as they might be. 
With a downe derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe.

2.  The one of them said to his mate,
“Where shall we our breakfast take?”

3.  “Downe in yonder greene field
There lies a knight slain under his shield.”

4.  His hounds they lie down at his feete,
So well they can their master keepe[92].

5.  His haukes they flie so eagerly,
There’s no fowle dare him come nie.

6.  Downe there comes a fallow doe,
As great with young as she might goe.

7.  She lift up his bloudy head,
And kist his wounds that were so red.

8.  She got him up upon her backe,
And carried him to earthen lake[93].

9.  She buried him before the prime,
She was dead herselfe ere even-song time.

10.  God send every gentleman
Such haukes, such hounds, and such a leman[94].

[Footnote 85:  Founded on an actual event of the plague, near
Perth, in 1645.  See the interesting account in Professor
Child’s ‘Ballads,’ Part VII, p. 75f.]

[Footnote 86:  Built.]

[Footnote 87:  A hill sloping down to a brook.]

[Footnote 88:  Thatched.]

     [Footnote 89:  To bake in the rays of the sun.]

     [Footnote 90:  The counterpart, or perhaps parody, of this
     ballad, called ‘The Twa Corbies,’ is better known than the
     exquisite original.]

     [Footnote 91:  The refrain, or burden, differs in another
     version of the ballad.]

     [Footnote 92:  Guard.]

     [Footnote 93:  Shroud of earth, burial.]

     [Footnote 94:  Sweetheart, darling, literally ‘dear-one’
     (liefman).  The word had originally no offensive meaning.]