Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish ballads

300
You couldna see her fingers sma' ;
Wi' diamond rings they were covered a'.
" Sair will they be, whae'er they be,
The hearts that live to weep for thee I"
Then by there cam a harper fine,
That harped to the king at dine.
And, when he looked that lady on,
He sighed and made a heavy moan.
He has taen three locks o' her yellow hair,
And wi' them strung his harp sae fair.
And he brought the harp to her father's hall,
And there the court was assembled all.
He laid this harp upon a stone,
And straight it began to play alone.
" O yonder sits my father, the king !
And yonder sits my mother, the queen !
And yonder stands my brother Hugh,
And by him my William sweet and true I"
But the last tune that the harp played then,
Binnorie, O Binnorie,
Was, " Woe to my sister, false Helen I"
By the bonnie mill-dams o' Binnorie.*
» This very touching ballad, the termination of which is singularly poet-
ical, was first published in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and af-
terwards, with some variations and additional stanzas, in Mr Jaraieson's
•• Popular Ballads and Songs." Mr Sharpe, in his Ballad Book, has latterly
given a third version, with an entirely different burden; of which the fol-
lowing is a specimen :
Theie lived twa sisters in a bouir.
Hey Edinbruch, howe Edinbruch;