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Child Ballad 214
| Am | G | Am | |
| There | was a lady | in the | north, |
| F | Am | C | |
| I | ne'er could find her | marr | ow; |
She was courted by nine gentlemen,
| Am | Em | Am | |
| And a | ploughboy | lad frae | Yarrow. |
These nine sat drinking at the wine,
As oft they'd done afore, O;
They hae made a vow amang themselves
Tae fecht wi' him on Yarrow.
She's washed his face and kaimed his hair,
As oft they'd done afore, O,
She's made him like a knight sae bright,
Tae fecht wi' her on Yarrow.
As he walked up yon high, high hill,
And doon by the holms o' Yarrow,
There he saw nine armed men,
Come to fecht wi' him on Yarrow.
"There's nine o' you, there's one o' me,
It's an unequal marrow,
But I'll fecht you a' one by one,
On the dowie dens o' Yarrow."
And there he flew and there he slew
And there he wounded sorely,
Till her brother John came in beyond,
And pierced his heart most foully.
"O, father, dear, I dreamed a dream,
A dream o' dule and sorrow;
I dreamed I was pu'in' the heather bell
On the dowie dens o' Yarrow."
As she walked up yon high, high hill,
And doon by the holms o' Yarrow,
There she saw her Willie dear,
Lying pale and dead on Yarrow.
Her hair it being three quarters lang,
The colour it was yellow;
She wrappit it round his middle sae sma',
And bore him down to Yarrow.
"O, faither dear, you've seiven sons,
You may wed them a' tomorrow,
For the fairest flooer among them a',
Was the lad I lo'ed on Yarrow."
This fair maid being big with child,
A fact which did cause her sorrow,
She lay deid in her lover's airms,
Between that day and morrow.