Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Sheath and Knife 2

Sheath and Knife 2

Sheath and Knife 2

There was a sister and her brother
        The sun gaes tae your tower there with
Wha maist and tightly loved each other
        God give we had never been sib

O sister we'll gang tae the broom
Where dear sister I would lay thee doon

Brother alas would ye dae sae
Sooner would my deith gang tae

Oh the folk they talk through ither
The lassie's wi' bairn tae her brother

Oh brother ye hae done me ill
We will both burn on yon hill

We'll gang tae my feither's stable
And tak twa horses stood and evil

She's up on the white horse he's on the black
With his yew tree bow slung fast his neck

They had nae rode a mile but ain
When her pains they did come on

I would gi' all my feither's land
If I had a midwife at my command

We'll gang tae yon hill sae hi'
And tak your bow and arrows wi'

When you hear me lood lood cry
Then bend your bow and let me die

When he heard her lood lood cry
He bent his bow and let her die

When he came to her beside
The babe was born, the lady died

Then he's ta'en up his young young son
And bore him tae a milk-woman

He's git himself ae wonderful si'er
We'll never gand tae the broom nae mair

Oh mether I hae tint my knife
I lo'ed it better than my life

But I hae tint a better thing
That bonnie sheath my knife was in

Is there nae a cutler an tae Fife
That could mak tae thee a better knife

There's nae a cutler in all the land
That could mak sac a knife tae my command

-----------------------------------------------
Child #16

recorded by Ewan MacColl on "Black And White" (1984)

"This spectacular incest ballad, with its hair-raising denouement and
its dramatic poetic devices, is an outstanding example of the genre.
Ewan loved the traditional ballads above all forms of folksong - the
economy of language, the stark dramatic form, the presentation of the
conflicts in society as seen through the eyes of individuals who are
at the mercy of social pressures."

Glossary:       gaes tae                goes to
                wha maist               who most
                gif                     if
                sib                     siblings
                gang tae the broom      make love
                dae sae                 do so
                my deith gang tae       go to my death
                through ither           together
                wi' bairn               with child
                ain                     one
                gang                    go
                nae mair                no more
                tint                    lost
                lo'ed                   loved
                sic                     such
MJ