Braes of Birniebouzle (1820, Edinburgh)/Merry May the Maid Be

by Anonymous

For other versions of this work, see Merry May the Maid Be.

MERRY MAY THE MAID BE

Merry may the maid be
that marries the miller,
For foul day or fair day,
he’s ay bringing till her;
Has ay a penny in his purse,
for dinner and for supper,
And gin she pleases, bread and cheese,
and heaps of yellow butter.

When Jamie first did woo me,
I spier’d what was his calling,
Fair maid, says he, O come and see,
you’re welcome to my dwelling:
Though I was shy, yet I could spy,
the truth of what he told me.
An I that his house was warm and couth,
and room in it to hold me.

Behind the door a bag of meal,
and in the kist was plenty,
Of good hard cakes his mither bakes
and bannocks were na scanty,
A good fat sow a sleeky cow
were standing in the byre;
While lazy puss with mealy mouse,
were playing at the fire.

Good signs are these my mither says
and bids me tak the miller;
For foul day or fair day
he's ay bringing till her:
For meal and ma’t she disna want,
nor ony thing that’s dainty,
And now and then a kecklin hen,
to lay her eggs in plenty.

In winter when the wind and rain
blaws o’er the barn and byre:
The miller by a clean hearth-stane,
Beside a fire;
He sits and cracks and his tale,
o’er ale that is right happy;
Who'd be a Queen that gaudy thing,
when a miller’s wife' sae happy.

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