Jock O Hazeldean Walter Scott
Walter
Scott, Sheriff of Selkirk is probably best known for creating the romanticism
surrounding the Highlands and the founding of the "Shortbread Tin"
Scotland so popular in Tourist shops the nation wide. However, he was also more
or less responsible for similarly altering the view of the Borders and its
history. The poem below is his attempt at a ballad although it is possible that
it is adapted from an older work.
Why
weep ye by the tide?
I’ll
wed ye to my youngest son,
And
ye sall be his bride.
And
ye sall be his bride, ladye,
Sae
comely to be seen” -
But
aye she loot the tears doon fa’
For
Jock o Hazeldean.
“Now
let this wilfu’ grief be done,
And
dry that cheek so pale.
Young
Frank is chief o Errington
And
Lord of Langley Dale.
His
step is first in peaceful ha’
His
sword in battle keen” -
But
aye she loot the tears doon fa’
For
Jock o Hazeldean.
“A
chain o gowd ye sall not lack,
Nor
braid to bind your hair,
Nor
mettled hound, nor managed hawk,
Nor
palfrey fresh and fair;
And
you, the foremaist o them a’
Sall
ride, oor Forest queen” -
But
aye she loot the tears doon fa’
For
Jock o Hazeldean.
The
kirk was deck’d at morning-tide,
The
tapers glimmer’d fair.
The
priest and bridegroom wait the bride,
And
dame and knight were there;
They
sought her baith by bower and ha’,
The
ladye wasna seen –
She’s
ower the border, and awa
Wi
Jock o Hazeldean!