on glen;
Lang, lang, will my young son greet
Or his mother bid him come ben.

2.
'I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low,
An' a cow low down in yon fauld;
Lang, lang will my young son greet
Or his mither take him frae cauld.

*** *** ***

3.
' ... ... ...
... ... ...
Waken, Queen of Elfan,
An' hear your nourice moan.'

4.
'O moan ye for your meat,
Or moan ye for your fee,
Or moan ye for the ither bounties
That ladies are wont to gie?'

5.
'I moan na for my meat,
Nor moan I for my fee,
Nor moan I for the ither bounties
That ladies are wont to gie.

6.
' ... ... ...
... ... ...
But I moan for my young son
I left in four nights auld.

7.
'I moan na for my meat,
Nor yet for my fee,
But I mourn for Christen land,
It's there I fain would be.'

8.
'O nurse my bairn, nourice,' she says,
'Till he stan' at your knee,
An' ye's win hame to Christen land,
Whar fain it's ye wad be.

9.
'O keep my bairn, nourice,
Till he gang by the hauld,
An' ye's win hame to your young son
Ye left in four nights auld.'

*** *** ***

10.
'O nourice lay your head
Upo' my knee:
See ye na that narrow road
Up by yon tree?

11.
... ... ...
... ... ...
That's the road the righteous goes,
And that's the road to heaven.

12.
'An' see na ye that braid road,
Down by yon sunny fell?
Yon's the road the wicked gae,
An' that's the road to hell.'

*** *** ***

[Annotations:
1.4: 'ben,' within.
9.2: _i.e._ till he can walk by holding on to things.]

ALLISON GROSS

+The Text+ is that of the Jamieson-Brown MS.

+The Story+ is one of the countless variations of the French 'Beauty and
the Beast.' A modern Greek tale narrates that a nereid, enamoured of a
youth, and by him scorned, turned him into a snake till he should find
another love as fair as she.

The feature of this ballad is that the queen of the fairies should have
power to undo the evil done by a witch.

ALLISON GROSS

1.
O Allison Gross, that lives in yon tow'r,
The ugliest witch i' the north country,
Has trysted me ae day up till her bow'r,
An' monny fair speech she made to me.

2.
She stroaked my head, an' she kembed my hair,
An' she set me down saftly on her knee;
Says, 'Gin ye will be my