Part II
Then he has staid in bower wi her
For sax lang years and ane,
Till sax young sons to him she bare,
And the seventh she’s brought hame.
But aye as ever a child was born
He carried them away,
And brought them to his mither’s care,
As fast as he coud fly.
Thus he has staid in bower wi her
For twenty years and three;
There came a lord o high renown
To court this fair ladie.
But still his proffer she refused,
And a’ his presents too;
Says, “I’m content to live alane
Wi my bird, Cow-me-doo.”
Her father sware a solemn oath
Amang the nobles all,
“The morn, or ere I eat or drink,
This bird I will gar kill.”
The bird was sitting in his cage,
And heard what they did say;
And when he found they were dismist,
Says, “Wae’s me for this day!
“Before that I do langer stay,
And thus to be forlorn,
I’ll gang unto my mither’s bower,
Where I was bred and born.”
Then Cow-me-doo took flight and flew
Beyond the raging sea,
And lighted near his mither’s castle,
On a tower o gowd sae hie.
As his mither was wauking out,
To see what she coud see,
And there she saw her little son,
Set on the tower sae hie.
“Get dancers here to dance,” she said,
“And minstrells for to play;
For here’s my young son, Florentine,
Come here wi me to stay.”
“Get nae dancers to dance, mither,
Nor minstrells for to play,
For the mither o my seven sons,
The morn’s her wedding-day.”
“O tell me, tell me, Florentine,
Tell me, and tell me true,
Tell me this day without a flaw,
What I will do for you.”
“Instead of dancers to dance, mither,
Or minstrells for to play,
Turn four-and-twenty wall-wight men
Like storks in feathers gray;
“My seven sons in seven swans,
Aboon their heads to flee;
And I mysell a gay gos-hawk,
A bird o high degree.”
Then sichin said the queen hersell,
“That thing’s too high for me;”
But she applied to an auld woman,
Who had mair skill than she.
Instead o dancers to dance a dance,
Or minstrells for to play,
Four-and-twenty wall-wight men
Turnd birds o feathers gray;
Her seven sons in seven swans,
Aboon their heads to flee;
And he himsell a gay gos-hawk,
A bird o high degree.
This flock o birds took flight and flew
Beyond the raging sea,
And landed near the Earl Mar’s castle,
Took shelter in every tree.
They were a flock o pretty birds,
Right comely to be seen;
The people viewd them wi surprise,
As they dancd on the green.
These birds ascended frae the tree
And lighted on the ha,
And at the last wi force did flee
Amang the nobles a’.
The storks there seized some o the men,
They coud neither fight nor flee;
The swans they bound the bride’s best man
Below a green aik tree.
They lighted next on maidens fair,
Then on the bride’s own head,
And wi the twinkling o an ee
The bride and them were fled.
There’s ancient men at weddings been
For sixty years or more,
But sic a curious wedding-day
They never saw before.
For naething coud the companie do,
Nor naething coud they say
But they saw a flock o pretty birds
That took their bride away.
When that Earl Mar he came to know
Where his dochter did stay,
He signd a bond o’ unity,
And visits now they pay.