The Twa Magicians
The Twa Magicians
The lady stands in her bower door,
As straight as willow wand;
The blacksmith stood a little forebye,
Wi hammer in his hand. Child has just a single version of The Twa Magicians from North East Scotland. Sharp later collected a single English version with tune. Bronson has 12 tunes, all but one (the Sharp version) are for a related appendix ballad Hares on the Mountain.
Version A
[ HOME ] [ Numbered List ]Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 24; Motherwell’s MS., p. 570.
1 The lady stands in her bower door,
As straight as willow wand;
The blacksmith stood a little forebye,
Wi hammer in his hand.
2 ‘Weel may ye dress ye, lady fair,
Into your robes o red;
Before the morn at this same time,
I’ll gain your maidenhead.’
3 ‘Awa, awa, ye coal-black smith,
Woud ye do me the wrang
To think to gain my maidenhead,
That I hae kept sae lang!’
4 Then she has hadden up her hand,
And she sware by the mold,
‘I wudna be a blacksmith’s wife
For the full o a chest o gold.
5 ‘I’d rather I were dead and gone,
And my body laid in grave,
Ere a rusty stock o coal-black smith
My maidenhead shoud have.’
6 But he has hadden up his hand,
And he sware by the mass,
‘I’ll cause ye be my light leman
For the hauf o that and less.’
O bide, lady, bide,
And aye he bade her bide;
The rusty smith your leman shall be,
For a’ your muckle pride.
7 Then she became a turtle dow,
To fly up in the air,
And he became another dow,
And they flew pair and pair.
O bide, lady, bide, &c.
8 She turnd hersell into an eel,
To swim into yon burn,
And he became a speckled trout,
To gie the eel a turn.
O bide, lady, bide, &c.
9 Then she became a duck, a duck,
To puddle in a peel,
And he became a rose-kaimd drake,
To gie the duck a dreel.
O bide, lady, bide, &c.
10 She turnd hersell into a hare,
To rin upon yon hill,
And he became a gude grey-hound,
And boldly he did fill.
O bide, lady, bide, &c.
11 Then she became a gay grey mare,
And stood in yonder slack,
And he became a gilt saddle.
And sat upon her back.
Was she wae, he held her sae,
And still he bade her bide;
The rusty smith her leman was,
For a’ her muckle pride.
12 Then she became a het girdle,
And he became a cake,
And a’ the ways she turnd hersell,
The blacksmith was her make.
Was she wae, &c.
13 She turnd hersell into a ship,
To sail out ower the flood;
He ca’ed a nail intill her tail,
And syne the ship she stood.
Was she wae, &c.
14 Then she became a silken plaid,
And stretchd upon a bed,
And he became a green covering,
And gaind her maidenhead.
Was she wae, &c.
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