“Take ye the blossom of the broom,
   “The blossom it smells sweet,
  “And strew it at your true love’s head,
   “And likewise at his feet.

  “Take ye the rings off your fingers,
   “Put them on his right hand,
  “To let him know, when he doth awake,
   “His love was at his command.”

  She pu’d the broom flower on Hive-hill,
   And strew’d on’s white hals bane,
  And that was to be wittering true,
   That maiden she had gane.

  “O where were ye, my milk-white steed,
   “That I hae coft sae dear,
  “That wadna watch and waken me,
   “When there was maiden here?”

  “I stamped wi’ my foot, master,
   “And gar’d my bridle ring;
  “But na kin’ thing wald waken ye,
   “Till she was past and gane.”

  “And wae betide ye, my gay goss hawk,
   “That I did love sae dear,
  “That wadna watch and waken me,
   “When there was maiden here.”

  “I clapped wi’ my wings, master,
   “And aye my bells I rang,
  “And aye cry’d, waken, waken, master,
   “Before the ladye gang.”

  “But haste and haste, my good white steed,
   “To come the maiden till,
  “Or a’ the birds, of gude green wood,
   “Of your flesh shall have their fill.”

  “Ye need na burst your good white steed,
   “Wi’ racing o’er the howm;
  “Nae bird flies faster through the wood,
   “Than she fled through the broom.”

PROUD LADY MARGARET.

This Ballad was communicated to the Editor by Mr HAMILTON, Music-seller, Edinburgh, with whose Mother it had been a, favourite.  Two verses and one line were wanting, which are here supplied from a different Ballad, having a plot somewhat similar.  These verses are the 6th and 9th.

  ’Twas on a night, an evening bright,
    When the dew began to fa’,
  Lady Margaret was walking up and down,
    Looking o’er her castle wa’.

  She looked east, and she looked west,
    To see what she could spy,
  When a gallant knight came in her sight,
    And to the gate drew nigh.

  “You seem to be no gentleman,
    “You wear your boots so wide;
  “But you seem to be some cunning hunter,
    “You wear the horn so syde."[A]

  “I am no cunning hunter,” he said,
    “Nor ne’er intend to be;
  “But I am come to this castle
    “To seek the love of thee;
  “And if you do not grant me love,
    “This night for thee I’ll die.”

  “If you should die for me, sir knight,
    “There’s few for you will mane,
  “For mony a better has died for me,
    “Whose graves are growing green.

  “But ye maun read my riddle,” she said,
    “And answer my questions three;
  “And but ye read them right,” she said,
    “Gae stretch ye out and die.—­

  “Now, what is the flower, the ae first flower,
   “Springs either on moor or dale? 
  “And what is the bird, the bonnie bonnie bird,
   “Sings on the evening gale?”