lemman so true,
Sae monny braw things as I woud you gi'.'

3.
She show'd me a mantle o' red scarlet,
Wi' gouden flow'rs an' fringes fine;
Says, 'Gin ye will be my lemman sae true,
This goodly gift it sal be thine.'

4.
'Awa', awa', ye ugly witch,
Haud far awa', an' lat me be;
I never will be your lemman sae true,
An' I wish I were out o' your company.'

5.
She neist brought a sark o' the saftest silk,
Well wrought wi' pearles about the ban';
Says, 'Gin ye will be my ain true love,
This goodly gift you sal comman'.'

6.
She show'd me a cup o' the good red gold,
Well set wi' jewls sae fair to see;
Says, 'Gin you will be my lemman sae true,
This goodly gift I will you gi'.'

7.
'Awa', awa', ye ugly witch,
Had far awa', and lat me be!
For I woudna ance kiss your ugly mouth
For a' the gifts that you coud gi'.'

8.
She's turn'd her right and roun' about,
An' thrice she blaw on a grass-green horn;
An' she sware by the meen and the stars abeen,
That she'd gar me rue the day I was born.

9.
Then out has she ta'en a silver wand,
An' she's turn'd her three times roun' and roun';
She's mutter'd sich words till my strength it fail'd,
An' I fell down senceless upon the groun'.

10.
She's turn'd me into an ugly worm,
And gard me toddle about the tree;
An' ay, on ilka Saturday's night,
My sister Maisry came to me;

11.
Wi' silver bason and silver kemb,
To kemb my heady upon her knee;
But or I had kiss'd her ugly mouth,
I'd rather 'a' toddled about the tree.

12.
But as it fell out on last Hallow-even,
When the seely court was ridin' by,
The queen lighted down on a gowany bank,
Nae far frae the tree where I wont to lye.

13.
She took me up in her milk-white han',
An' she's stroak'd me three times o'er her knee;
She chang'd me again to my ain proper shape,
And I nae mair maun toddle about the tree.

[Annotations:
5.1: 'sark,' shirt.
12.2: 'the seely court,' _i.e._ the fairies' court.
12.3: 'gowany,' daisied.]

THE LAILY WORM AND THE MACHREL OF THE SEA

+The Text+ of this mutilated ballad is taken from the Skene MS., where
it was written down from recitation in the North of Scotland about 1802.

+The Story+ is of a double transformation of a sister and brother by a
stepmother. Compare the story of _The Marriage of