Lord Douglas- Alex Glennie (Aber) 1908 Greig L
[From: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, edited by Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B Lyle and Katherine Campbell. The original transcription was not done well, I've added obvious mistakes in brackets. Very little dialect, when present, it seems out-of-place.
R. Matteson 2018]
L. Lord Douglas- sung by Alexander Glennie of Aberdeenshire about 1908. Collected by Greig.
1. "Stand up, stand up, Lord Douglas, he cried,
Stand to your armour so bright,
Let it never be said a daughter of yours,
Could be wed to a lord [or] a knight."
2 "Stand up, stand up, ye seven sons so bold,
Stand to your armour so bright,
Let it never be said a sister of yours,
Should be wed to a lord or a knight[1]."
3. He mounted her on her milk-white steed,
Himself on a dapple grey,
And his bugle on [horn] hanging down by his side,
And slowly they both rode away.
4. Lord Williams looked over his left shoulder,
To see what he could see,
And there he spied her seven brothers bold,
Come riding o'er the lea.
5. "Lie[Light] down, lie [light] down, Lady Margaret," he cried,
"And take my steed in your hand,
Till I go fight your seven brothers bold,
And make your father I'll make him stand."
6. She's ta'en his steed in her milk-white hand,
And never did she shed one tear,
Until that she saw her seven brothers fa',
And her father fighting so near.
7. "Hold off, hold off," Lord Williams," she cried,
"For your strokes they are wondrous sore,
Sweethearts I will get many a one,
But a father I'll never get more."
8. She's ta'en oot her handkerchief,
It was of the holland so fine,
And she wiped her father's bloody wounds,
They were redder than the wine.
9. "O choose, O choose, Lady Margaret," he cried,
"Whether you are to go or bide.
"O I will go Lord William," she cried,
"Since you've left me no other guide."
10. He mounted her on a milk-white steed,
Himself on a dapple grey,
And bugle on [horn] hanging down by his side,
And so slowly they both rode away.
11. On they rode, and on they rode,
It was a' by the light o' the moon,
Until that they came to yon clear waterside,
It was there they both lighted down.
12. They lighted down to take a drink,
Of the water that ran so clear,
And it was there that she spied his heart's blood and wound,
It was there she began for to fear.
13. "Hold up, hold up, Lord Williams," she cried,
"For this night I fear you've been slain,
"Oh no, it is nothing but my scarlet coat,
In the water running so plain."
14. On they rode, and on they rode,
It was a' by the light o' the moon,
Until that they came to his mother's high gate,
And 'twas there that they both lighted down.
15. "O rise, o rise, lady mother," he cried[2]
"For this night my fair lady, mother dear
Make me my bed, make it both broad and deep,
And lay Lady Margaret down by my side,
That the sounder I may sleep."
________
1. originally "lord O knight"
2. the end stanza combines two stanzas, the second line is a corruption of "For this night my fair lady, I've won"