One Hundred Narrative Poems (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 4 SIR PATRICK SPENCE1 The king sits in Dumferling toune,2 Drinking the blude-reid wine: "O whar will I get guid sailor, To sail this schip of mine?" Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sat at the kings richt kne: "Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor That sails upon the se." The king has written a braid letter,3 And signd it wi his hand, And sent it to Sir Patrick Spence, Was walking on the sand. The first line that Sir Patrick red, A loud lauch lauched he; The next line that Sir Patrick red, The teir blinded his ee. "O wha is this has don this deid, This ill deid don to me, To send me out this time o' the yeir, To sail upon the se ! 1. This ballad may or may not have a historical basis. In 1290 a deputation was sent to bring the Princess Margaret, heir to the crown of Scotland, from Norway to England to marry the eldest son of Edward I, but she died on the voyage. According to one account she perished in a storm. The. ballad may be based upon this voyage. 2. Dumferling toune. Fifteen miles northwest of Edinburgh. 3. Braid letter. Either a letter on a broad sheet, or a long letter. "Mak hast, mak haste, my mirry men all, Our guid schip sails the morne: " "O say na sae, my master deir, For I feir a deadlie storme. "Late late yestreen I saw the new moone, Wi the auld moone in hir arme, And I feir, I feir, my deir master, That we will cum to harme." O our Scots nobles wer richt laith To weet their cork-heild schoone; Bot lang owre a' the play wer playd, Thair hats they swam aboone.4 O lang, lang may their ladies sit, Wi thair fans into their hand, Or eir they se Sir Patrick Spence Cum sailing to the land. O lang, lang may the ladies stand, Wi thair gold kems in their hair, Waiting for thair ...