Lady Marg'ret- Anon (Aber) 1908 Greig N
[My title, location and date. Fragment from: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection. edited by Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B Lyle and Katherine Campbell.
R. Matteson 2018]
N. "Lady Margaret." Unknown informant probably of Aberdeenshire about 1908. Collected by Greig.
1. He lookit over his left shoulder,
And through his bonnie bridal rein,
And he spied her father and seven bold brethren,
As they came riding down the glen.
2. They rode on, and on they rode,
And all by the light o' the moon,
Until that they came tae yon plain waters,
And there they both lighted down.
3. "O hold my horse, Lady Marg'ret," he said,
"O hold my horse by the bonnie bridal rein
Till I fight your father and seven bold brethren,
As they came riding down the glen."
3. "Sometimes she rode, and sometimes she gaed
Till she that place did near,
And there she spied her seven brothers slain
and her father who loved her so dear.
4. "Oh hold your hand Sweet William," she said,
"For your bull baits [strokes] are wondrous sair,
Sweethearts I will get many a one,
But a father I will never get mair."
5. She has ta'en a napkin from off her neck,
That was of the cambuck so fine,
And aye as she wiped her father's bloody wounds,
The blood ran red as wine.
6. He set her upon her milk-white steed,
Himself upon the brown,
He took a horn out of his pocket,
And they both went weeping along.
7. He set her upon her milk-white steed,
Himself upon the brown,
He took a horn out of his pocket,
And they both went weeping along.