23.
'O is my biggins broken, boy?
Or is my towers won?
Or is my lady lighter yet,
Of a dear daughter or son?'

24.
'Your biggin is na broken, sir,
Nor is your towers won;
But the fairest lady in a' the lan'
For you this day maun burn.'

25.
'O saddle me the black, the black,
Or saddle me the brown;
O saddle me the swiftest steed
That ever rade frae a town.'

26.
Or he was near a mile awa',
She heard his wild horse sneeze:
'Mend up the fire, my false brother,
It's na come to my knees.'

27.
O whan he lighted at the gate,
She heard his bridle ring;
'Mend up the fire, my false brother,
It's far yet frae my chin.

28.
'Mend up the fire to me, brother,
Mend up the fire to me;
For I see him comin' hard an' fast,
Will soon men' 't up to thee.

29.
'O gin my hands had been loose, Willy,
Sae hard as they are boun',
I would have turn'd me frae the gleed,
And castin out your young son.'

30.
'O I'll gar burn for you, Maisry,
Your father an' your mother;
An' I'll gar burn for you, Maisry,
Your sister an' your brother.

31.
'An' I'll gar burn for you, Maisry,
The chief of a' your kin;
An' the last bonfire that I come to,
Mysel' I will cast in.'

[Annotations:
5.1: 'ha'd' = _haud_, hold.
9.2: 'mailison,' curse.
11.1: 'is aught,' owns.
15.4: 'forlorn,' forfeit.
20.2: _i.e._ in driving wind and rain.
21: A stock ballad-stanza.
22.2: 'baed,' stayed; 'chap,' knock.
22.4: 'lap,' leapt.
23.1: 'biggins,' buildings.
29.3: 'gleed,' burning coal, fire.
30.1: 'gar,' make, cause.]

[Illustration]

THE CRUEL BROTHER

+The Text+ is that obtained in 1800 by Alexander Fraser Tytler from Mrs.
Brown of Falkland, and by him committed to writing. The first ten and
the last two stanzas show corruption, but the rest of the ballad is in
the best style.

+The Story+ emphasises the necessity of asking the consent of a brother
to the marriage of his sister, and therefore the title _The Cruel
Brother_ is a misnomer. In ballad-times, the brother would have been
well within his rights; it was rather a fatal oversight of the
bridegroom that caused the tragedy.

Danish and German ballads echo the story, though in the commonest German
ballad, _Graf Friedrich_, the bride receives an _accidental_ wound, and
that from the bridegroom's own hand.

The testament