Love
Willie o Winsbury (Child 100B)
From The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, ed. F. J. Child (1882–98)
'What aileth ye, my dochter Dysmill,
Ye look sae pale and wan?
Hae ye had ony sair sickness,
Or ill luve wi a man?
'Cast aff, cast aff your bony brown goun,
And lay't down on the stane,
And I sall tell ye ay or no
Ye hae layn wi a man.'
She has taen aff her bony brown gown,
She has laid it on the stane;
Her waist was big, her side was round,
Her fair colour was gane.
'Now is it to a man of micht,
Or to a man of mean?
Or is it to the ranke robber
That robs upon the main?'
'O it's nor to a man of micht,
Nor to a man of mean;
But it's to Willie Winchberrie,
That came frae France and Spain.'
The king he's turnd him round about,
An angry man was he:
'Gar bring to me your fals leman,
Wha sall high hanged be.'
Then Dysmill turnd her round about,
The tear blinded her ee:
'Gin ye begin to hang, father,
Ye maun begin wi mee.'
When Willie he cam to the king,
His coat was o the silk;
His hair was like the thread o gowd,
His skin white as the milk.
'Ne wonder, ne wonder,' quoth the king,
'My dochter shoud like ye;
Gin ye were a woman, as ye're a man,
My bedfellow ye sould be.
'Now will ye marry my dochter Dysmill,
By the truth o your right hand?
Now will ye marry my dochter Dysmill,
And be a lord o the land?'
Cite this poem
MLA
Traditional Ballads (Child collection). “Willie o Winsbury (Child 100B).” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/child-ballads/407/.
Chicago
Traditional Ballads (Child collection). “Willie o Winsbury (Child 100B).” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/child-ballads/407/.
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