Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
1: The Six Questions

Versions from the Singing Tradition
1: The Six Questions
As sung by Sarah Bowles, Fife
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As sung by Sarah Bowles (nee Sarah McLean Cunninham) aged 82 at Elderlea, Rosyth, Fife in April 1992 learned from her grandmother Mrs Sarah MacLean Cunningham of Slamanan. Collected by Lilius Macdonald. The singer had the ballad under the title 'The Six Questions'.

'Gae awa, gae awa young man,' says she,
'An' dinna bother me;
Before ye lie ae nicht wi me,
Ye maun answer questions three;
Three questions ye maun answer
An' I'll explain them aa,
Before ye lie ae nicht wi me
At either stock or waa.'

'Can ye name me a bonnie tree
That has a fruit without a stone?
An' dae ye ken when a hen
Has a chick without a bone?
Where is a bird, a bonnie bird
That flees without a caa?
Then you and I in one bed lie
An' I'll lie next the waa.'

'Gae awa, gae awa young man,' said she,
'An' dinna be perplexed;
Before ye lie ae nicht wi me,
Ye maun answer questions six;
Six questions ye maun answer
An' I'll explain them aa;
Before ye lie ae nicht wi' me
At either stock or waa.'

'What is rounder than a ring?
What is higher than a tree?
What is worse than womankind?
What is deeper than the sea?
What bird sings first? What bird sings last?
What bird the best of aa?
Then you an' I in the one bed lie
An' I'll lie next the waa.'

'The world is rounder than a ring,
Heaven's higher than a tree,
The De'il is worse than womankind,
Hell's deeper than the sea;
The lark sings first, the thrush the last,
An' the thrush the best of aa,
Then you an' I in the one bed lie
An' I'll row ye next the waa.'


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