The Banishd Man- Herd (Edinburgh) 1770s Child B
According to Iona and Peter Opie in "The Singing Game" 1988 - 521 pages: This was "collected in Edinburgh by David Herd in the early 1770s, the first of which ran: There wond three ladies in a bower, Annet and Margrer and Marjorie, And they have gone out to pu' a flower, And the dew it lyes on the wood, gay ladie."
Child says, "B a is from tradition of the latter half of the eighteenth century; the other copies from the earlier part of this."
The Banishd Man- Version B
Herd's MSS, i, 38, it, 76. b. The Scots Magazine, Oct., 1803, p. 699, communicated by Jamieson, and evidently from Herd's copy.
1 THERE wond three ladies in a bower,
Annet and Margret and Marjorie
And they have gane out to pu a flower.
And the dew it lyes on the wood, gay ladie
2 They had nae pu'd a flower but ane,
When up has started a banished man.
3 He has taen the eldest by the hand,
He has turned her about and bade her stand.
4 'Now whether will ye be a banisht man's wife,
Or will ye be sticked wi my pen-knife?'
5 'I will na be ca'd a banished man's wife,
I'11 rather be stieked wi your pen-knife.'
6 And he has taen out his little pen-knife,
And frae this lady he has taen the life.
7 He has taen the second by the hand,
He has turned her about and lie bad her stand.
8 'Now whether will ye be a banisht man's wife,
Or will ye be sticked wi my pen-knife?'
9 'I will na be ca'd a banished man's wife;
I'll rather be sticked wi your pen-knife.'
10 And he has taen out his little pen-knife,
And frae this lady he has taen the life.
11 He has taen the youngest by the hand,
He has turned her about and he bad her stand.
12 'Now whether will ye be a banished man's wife,
Or will ye be stieked wi my pen-knife?'
13 'I winnae be called a banished man's wife,
Nor yet will I be sticked wi your pen-knife.
14 'But gin my three brethren had been here,
Ye had nae slain my sisters dear.'