244 THE SOUTH COUNTRY 



" O lang, lang may their ladies sit 

 Wi' their fans into their hand, 

 Or ere they see Sir Patrick Spens 

 Come sailing to the land. 



O lang, lang may the ladies stand, 

 Wi' their gold combs in their hair, 



Wailing for their ain dear lords, 

 For they'll see them na mair. 



Half-owre, half-owre to Aberdour, 



It's liftie fadom deep. 

 And there lies guid Sir Patrick Spens, 



Wi' the Scots lords at his feet." 



This ballad is one peculiar to our island, and no one 

 can seriously deny that some one of its authors was one 

 of the greatest writers of narrative poetry that ever lived. 



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