Down Amang The Blue Flowers- c.1820s Child C
[No title was supplied for Child C, so I'm titling as Motherwell titled Child D in his Minstrelsy: "Down Amang The Blue Flowers and the Yellow" or the shorter title, "Down Amang The Blue Flowers."]
Down Amang The Blue Flowers; Child Version C; Child 25 Willie's Lyke-Wake
Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 187.
1 'O Willie, Willie, what makes thee so sad?'
And the sun shines over the valley
'I have loved a lady these seven years and mair.'
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
2 'O Willie, lie down as thou were dead,
And the sun shines over the valley
And lay thy winding-sheet down at thy head.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
3 'And gie to the bellman a belling-great,
And the sun shines over the valley
To ring the dead-bell at thy love's bower-yett.'
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
4 He laid him down as he were dead,
And the sun shines over the valley
And he drew the winding-sheet oer his head.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
5 He gied to the bellman a belling-great,
And the sun shines over the valley
To ring the dead-bell at his love's bower-yett.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
* * * * *
6 When that she came to her true lover's gate,
And the sun shines over the valley
She dealt the red gold and all for his sake.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
7 And when that she came to her true lover's bower,
And the sun shines over the valley
She had not been there for the space of half an hour,
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
8 Till that she cam to her true lover's bed,
And the sun shines over the valley
And she lifted the winding-sheet to look at the dead.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
9 He took her by the hand so meek and sma,
And the sun shines over the valley
And he cast her over between him and the wa.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
10 'Tho all your friends were in the bower,
And the sun shines over the valley
I would not let you go for the space of half an hour.
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow
11 'You came to me without either horse or boy,
And the sun shines over the valley
But I will send you home with a merry convoy.'
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow