The second ballad, The Young Ruthven, gives the traditional view of the
slaying of the Ruthvens in their own house in Perth, on 5th August
1600.
The third, The Dead Man's Dance, combines the horror of the ballads of
Lizzy Wan and The Bonny Hind, with that of the Romaic ballad, in
English, The Suffolk Miracle (Child, No. 272).
I--SIMMY O' WHYTHAUGH
O, will ye hear o' the Bishop o' York,
O, will ye hear o' the Armstrongs true,
How they hae broken the Bishop's castle,
And carried himsel' to the bauld Buccleuch?
They were but four o' the Lariston kin,
They were but four o' the Armstrong name,
Wi' stout Sim Armstrong to lead the band,
The Laird o' Whythaugh, I mean the same.
They had done nae man an injury,
They had na robbed, they had na slain,
In pledge were they laid for the Border peace,
In the Bishop's castle to dree their pain.
The Bishop he was a crafty carle,
He has ta'en their red and their white monie,
But the muddy water was a' their drink,
And dry was the bread their meat maun be.
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