Page:Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry - 1887.djvu/228

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When the song ceased I observed two hands shedding apart the thick willows, while an eye glanced for a moment through the aperture on the young maiden and me. A song of a gentler nature instantly followed, and I could not help imagining that my companion felt a particular interest in the minstrel's story. The time and the place contributed to the charm of the sweet voice and the rustic poetry.

Bonnie Mary Halliday,

Turn again, I call you;

If you go to the dewy wood

Sorrow will befall you:

The ringdove from the dewy wood

Is wailing sore and calling,

And Annanwater, 'tween its banks,

Is foaming far and falling.

Gentle Mary Halliday,

Come, my bonnie lady;

Upon the river's woody bank

My steed is saddled ready;

And for thy haughty kinsmen's threats,

My faith shall never falter;

The bridal banquet's ready made,

The priest is at the altar.

Gentle Mary Halliday,

The towers of merry Preston

Have bridal candles gleaming bright,

So busk thee, love, and hasten;

Come, busk thee, love, and bowne thee

Through Tinwald and green Mouswal;

Come, be the grace and be the charm

To the proud towers of Machusel.

Bonnie Mary Halliday,

Turn again, I tell you:

For wit, an' grace, an' loveliness,

What maidens may excel you?