Fair Mary of Wallington (Child 91D)

'Here it is was sisters seven,
And five is died with child;
Was non but you and I, Hellen,
And we'se be maidens mild.'

They hadna been maidens o bonny Snawdon
A twalvemonth and a day,
When lairds and lords a courting came,
Seeking Mary away.

The bonny laird of Livingstone,
He liket Mary best;
He gae her a ring, a royal ring,
And he wedded her at last.

She hed na been lady o Livingstone
A twalvemonth and a day,
When she did go as big wi bairn
As iver a woman could be.

The knights were wringin their white fingers,
And the ladys wer tearin their hair;
It was a' for the lady o Livingstone,
For a word she never spake mare.

Out and spake her sister Hellen,
Where she sat by her side;
'The man shall never be born,' she said,
'Shall ever make me his bride.

'The man,' she said, 'that would merry me,
I'de count him but a feel,
To merry me at Whitsunday,
And bury me at Yele.'

Out and spak her mother dear,
Whare she sat by the fire:
'I bare this babe now from my side,
Maun suffer her to die.

'And I have six boys now to my oyes,
And none of them were born,
But a hole cut in their mother's side,
And they from it were shorne.'