Then up bespak her eldest brother,
    “O see na ye what I see?”
  And out then spak her second brother,
    “Its our sister Marjorie!”

  Out then spak her eldest brother,
    “O how shall we her ken?”
  And out then spak her youngest brother,
    “There’s a honey mark on her chin.”

  Then they’ve ta’en up the comely corpse,
    And laid it on the ground—­
  “O wha has killed our ae sister,
    “And how can he be found?

  “The night it is her low lykewake,
    “The morn her burial day,
  “And we maun watch at mirk midnight,
    “And hear what she will say.”

  Wi’ doors ajar, and candle light,
    And torches burning clear;
  The streikit corpse, till still midnight,
    They waked, but naething hear.

  About the middle o’ the night. 
    The cocks began to craw;
  And at the dead hour o’ the night,
    The corpse began to thraw.

  “O wha has done the wrang, sister,
    “Or dared the deadly sin? 
  “Wha was sae stout, and feared nae dout,
    “As thraw ye o’er the linn?”

  “Young Benjie was the first ae man
    “I laid my love upon;
  “He was sae stout and proud-hearted,
    “He threw me o’er the linn.”

  “Sall we young Benjie head, sister,
    “Sall we young Benjie hang,
  “Or sall we pike out his twa gray een,
    “And punish him ere he gang?”

  “Ye mauna Benjie head, brothers,
    “Ye mauna Benjie hang,
  “But ye maun pike out his twa gray een,
    “And punish him ere he gang.

  “Tie a green gravat round his neck,
    “And lead him out and in,
  “And the best ae servant about your house
    “To wait young Benjie on.

  “And ay, at every seven year’s end,
    “Ye’ll tak him to the linn;
  “For that’s the penance he maun drie,
    “To scug[E] his deadly sin.”

[Footnote A:  Plea—­Used obliquely for dispute.]

[Footnote B:  Stout—­Through this whole ballad, signifies haughty.]

[Footnote C:  Sets ye—­Becomes you—­ironical.]

[Footnote D:  Dang—­defeated.]

[Footnote E:  Scug—­shelter or expiate.]

LADY ANNE.

This ballad was communicated to me by Mr Kirkpatrick Sharpe of Hoddom, who mentions having copied it from an old magazine.  Although it has probably received some modern corrections, the general turn seems to be ancient, and corresponds with that of a fragment, containing the following verses, which I have often heard sung in my childhood:—­

She set her back against a thorn,
And there she has her young son borne;
“O smile nae sae, my bonny babe! 
“An ye smile sae sweet, ye’ll smile me dead.”

* * * * *

An’ when that lady went to the church,
She spied a naked boy in the porch,