Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish ballads

182
And therefore for nae venison, Johnie,
I pray ye stir frae hanie."
But JoFmie buskt up his gude bend bow,
His arrows ane by ane ;
And he has gane to Durisdeer,
To hunt the dun deer down,
Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west.
And he lookit aneath the sun ;*
And there he espied the dun deer sleeping,
Aneath a bush o' whin.f
Johnie he shot, and the dun deer lap,
And he skaithed her on the side ;
And atween the water and the brae,
His hounds they laid her pride.
O Johnie's taen out the dun deer's liver.
And sae has he her lungs ;
And he has fed his three bluidy hounds,
As they had been earls' sons.
They eat sae muckle o' the venison,
And drank sae muckle o' the blude,
That Johnie and a his bluidy hounds
Fell asleep as they had been dead.
And by there cam a silly auld man,
And an ill death may he dee ;
* Apparently an allusion to the practice among huntsmen, and others
who have occasion to traverse wild parts of the country, of stooping to the
ground and looking along its surface, so as to have every little incumbent
object relieved against the sky. This mode of discovering objects, which
is technically called looking hclow the sky, is particularly necessary in the
twilight, or in the dark. We are informed by Mr Kinloch, that, in the
Highlands of Scotland, where the mountain roads are dangerous, and al-
most impassable in winter, long black poles, with white tops, are placed at
intervals along the path, to guide the traveller ; and these are only discern-
ible in the dark, by " looking below the sky" at everv short distance.
t Furze