FOLK-LORE FROM UNST. 197 



Noo tell ta us what ye will hae 



Scowan xirla griin ; 

 What sail we gie you for your play, 



Wliar giorten haii griin oarlac. 



What I will hae I will you tell, 



Scowan iirla griin ; 

 An' dat's me Lady Isabel, 



Whar giorten han griin oarlac. 



Yees tak your lady an' yees gaeng hame, 



Scowan iirla griin ; 

 An' yees be king ower a' your ain, 



Whar giorten han griin oarlac. 



He's ta'en his lady an' he's gaen hame, 



Scowan iirla griin ; 

 An' noo he's king ower a' his ain, 



Whar giorten han griin oarlac." 



"Probably there have been some stanzas between 

 the first and second verses, as above. Surely," says 

 my brother, " there would be something to tell of 

 the king's wooing and bringing the lady from the 

 ' wast ' to his eastern home, but I am quite sure 

 there was never any such verses in the ballad as sung 

 by old Andrew Coutts, and I always used to wonder 

 at it and speculate in my boyish mind on the connect- 

 ing links which seemed wanting." 



The second and fourth lines in each stanza are spelt 

 phonetically, with the addition of German accents on 

 the " " and " u." "We do not know what the words 

 mean, but I think our father's opinion was that 

 " Scowan iirla griin " signified the king's title or titles ; 

 "iirla" might be a corruption of "jerl" (earl). 

 " Whar giorten han griin oarlac " he fancied meant, 



