“Lament, lament na, may Margaret,
   “And of your weeping let me be;
  “For ye maun to the king himsell,
   “To seek the life of young Logie.”

  May Margaret has kilted her green cleiding,
  And she has curl’d back her yellow hair—­
  “If I canna get young Logie’s life,
  “Fareweel to Scotland for evermair.”

  When she came before the king,
  She knelit lowly on her knee—­
  “O what’s the matter, may Margaret? 
  “And what needs a’ this courtesie?”

  “A boon, a boon, my noble liege,
  “A boon, a boon, I beg o’ thee! 
  “And the first boon that I come to crave,
  “Is to grant me the life of young Logic.”

  “O na, O na, may Margaret,
  “Forsooth, and so it manna be;
  “For a’ the gowd o’ fair Scotland
  “Shall not save the life of young Logie.”

  But she has stown the king’s redding kaim,[A]
  Likewise the queen her wedding knife;
  And sent the tokens to Carmichael,
  To cause young Logic get his life.

  She sent him a purse o’ the red gowd,
   Another o’ the white monie;
  She sent him a pistol for each hand,
   And bade him shoot when he gat free.

  When he came to the tolbooth stair,
   There he let his volley flee;
  It made the king in his chamber start,
   E’en in the bed where he might be.

  “Gae out, gae out, my merrymen a’,
   “And bid Carmichael come speak to me;
  “For I’ll lay my life the pledge o’ that,
   “That yon’s the shot o’ young Logie.”

  When Carmichael came before the king,
   He fell low down upon his knee;
  The very first word that the king spake,
   Was—­“Where’s the laird of young Logie?”

  Carmichael turn’d him round about,
   (I wot the tear blinded his eye)
  “There came a token frae your grace,
   “Has ta’en away the laird frae me.”

  “Hast thou play’d me that, Carmichael?”
   “And hast thou play’d me that?” quoth he;
  “The morn the justice court’s to stand,
   “And Logic’s place ye maun supply.”

  Carmichael’s awa to Margaret’s bower,
   Even as fast as he may drie—­
  “O if young Logie be within,
   “Tell him to come and speak with me!”

  May Margaret turned her round about,
   (I wot a loud laugh laughed she)
  “The egg is chipped, the bird is flown,
   “Ye’ll see na mair of young Logie.”

  The tane is shipped at the pier of Leith,
   The tother at the Queen’s Ferrie;
  And she’s gotten a father to her bairn,
   The wanton laird of young Logie.

[Footnote A:  Redding kain—­Comb for the hair.]

NOTE ON THE LAIRD O’ LOGIE.

Carmichael’s the keeper o’ the key.—­P. 344. v. 2.

Sir John Carmichael of Carmichael, the hero of the ballad, called the Raid of the Reidswair, was appointed captain of the king’s guard in 1588, and usually had the keeping of state criminals of rank.