Ere ever you saw the light.

30.
'Gin you shoud kill him Fa'se Footrage,
There is nae man durst you blame;
For he keeps your mother a prisoner,
And she dares no take you hame.'

31.
The boy stared wild like a gray gose-hawk,
Says, 'What may a' this mean?'
'My boy, you are King Honor's son,
And your mother's our lawful queen.'

32.
'O gin I be King Honor's son,
By Our Ladie I swear,
This day I will that traytour slay,
And relieve my mother dear!'

33.
He has set his bent bow till his breast,
And lap the castle-wa';
And soon he's siesed on Fa'se Footrage,
Wha loud for help gan ca'.

34.
'O haud your tongue now, Fa'se Footrage,
Frae me ye shanno flee.'
Syne pierced him through the foul fa'se heart,
And set his mother free.

35.
And he has rewarded Wise William
Wi' the best half of his land;
And sae has he the turtle dow
Wi' the truth o' his right hand.

[Annotations:
3.1: 'kaivles,' lots.
13.4: 'gallows-pin,' the projecting beam of the gallows.
16.1: 'birled,' plied.
16.4: 'wallwood,' wild wood: a conventional ballad-phrase.
25.2: A stock ballad-phrase.
33.1: A ballad conventionality.]

FAIR ANNIE OF ROUGH ROYAL

'Ouvre ta port', Germin', c'est moi qu'est ton mari.'
'Donnez-moi des indic's de la premiere nuit,
Et par la je croirai que vous et's mon mari.'

--_Germaine._

+The Text+ is Fraser Tytler's, taken down from the recitation of Mrs.
Brown in 1800, who had previously (1783) recited a similar version to
Jamieson. The later recitation, which was used by Scott, with others,
seems to contain certain improvisations of Mrs. Brown's which do not
appear in the earlier form.

+The Story.+--A mother, who feigns to be her own son and demands tokens
of the girl outside the gate, turns her son's love away, and is cursed
by him. Similar ballads exist in France, Germany, and Greece.

There is an early eighteenth-century MS. (Elizabeth Cochrane's
_Song-Book_) of this ballad, which gives a preliminary history. Isabel
of Rochroyal dreams of her love Gregory; she rises up, calls for a swift
steed, and rides forth till she meets a company. They ask her who she
is, and are told that she is 'Fair Isabel of Rochroyal,' seeking her
true-love Gregory. They direct her to 'yon castle'; and thenceforth the
tale proceeds much as in the other versions.

'Lochryan,' says Scott, 'lies in Galloway