<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=344261" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Johnnie Armstrang</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Some speak of lords, some speak of lairds,<br>And sic like men of high degree;<br>Of a gentleman I sing a sang,<br>Some time call'd Laird of Gilnockie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The king he writes a loving letter,<br>With his ain hand sae tenderlie,<br>And he hath sent it to Johnnie Armstrang,<br>To come and speak with him speedilie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Elliots and Armstrangs did convene,<br>They were a gallant companie:<br>'We'll ride and meet our lawful king,<br>And bring him safe to Gilnockie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Make kinnen and capon ready, then,<br>And venison in great plentie;<br>We'll welcome here our royal king;<br>I hope he'll dine at Gilnockie!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They ran their horse on the Langholm howm,<br>And brake their spears with meikle main;<br>The ladies lookit frae their loft windows--<br>'God bring our men weel hame again!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Johnnie came before the king,<br>With all his men sae brave to see,<br>The king he moved his bonnet to him;<br>He ween'd he was a king as well as he.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'May I find grace, my sovereign liege,<br>Grace for my loyal men and me?<br>For my name it is Johnnie Armstrang,<br>And a subject of yours, my liege,' said he.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Away, away, thou traitor strang!<br>Out of my sight soon may'st thou be!<br>I granted never a traitor's life,<br>And now I'll not begin with thee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Grant me my life, my liege, my king!<br>And a bonnie gift I'll gi'e to thee;<br>Full four-and-twenty milk-white steeds,<br>Were all foal'd in ae year to me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I'll gi'e thee all these milk-white steeds,<br>That prance and nicher at a spear;<br>And as meikle gude Inglish gilt, <br>As four of their braid backs dow bear.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Away, away, thou traitor strang!<br>Out of my sight soon may'st thou be!<br>I granted never a traitor's life,<br>And now I'll not begin with thee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Grant me my life, my liege, my king!<br>And a bonnie gift I'll gi'e to thee:<br>Gude four-and-twenty ganging mills,<br>That gang thro' all the year to me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'These four-and-twenty mills complete,<br>Shall gang for thee thro' all the year;<br>And as meikle of gude red wheat,<br>As all their happers dow to bear.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Away, away, thou traitor strang!<br>Out of my sight soon may'st thou be!<br>I granted never a traitor's life,<br>And now I'll not begin with thee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Grant me my life, my liege, my king!<br>And a great gift I'll gi'e to thee:<br>Bauld four-and-twenty sisters' sons<br>Shall for thee fecht, tho' all shou'd flee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Away, away, thou traitor strang!<br>Out of my sight soon may'st thou be!<br>I granted never a traitor's life,<br>And now I'll not begin with thee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Grant me my life, my liege, my king!<br>And a brave gift I'll gi'e to thee:<br>All between here and Newcastle town<br>Shall pay their yearly rent to thee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Away, away, thou traitor strang!<br>Out of my sight soon may'st thou be!<br>I granted never a traitor's life,<br>And now I'll not begin with thee.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Ye lied, ye lied, now, king,' he says,<br>'Altho' a king and prince ye be!<br>For I've loved naething in my life,<br>I weel dare say it, but honestie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Save a fat horse, and a fair woman,<br>Twa bonnie dogs to kill a deer;<br>But England shou'd have found me meal and mault,<br>Gif I had lived this hundred year.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'She shou'd have found me meal and mault,<br>And beef and mutton in all plentie;<br>But never a Scots wife cou'd have said,<br>That e'er I skaith'd her a puir flee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'To seek het water beneath cauld ice,<br>Surely it is a great follie:<br>I have ask'd grace at a graceless face,<br>But there is nane for my men and me.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But had I kenn'd, ere I came frae hame,<br>How unkind thou wou'dst been to me,<br>I wou'd ha'e keepit the Border side,<br>In spite of all thy force and thee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Wist England's king that I was ta'en,<br>Oh, gin a blythe man he wou'd be!<br>For ance I slew his sister's son,<br>And on his breast-bane brak a tree.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">John wore a girdle about his middle,<br>Embroider'd o'er with burning gold,<br>Bespangled with the same metal,<br>Maist beautiful was to behold.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There hang nine targats at Johnnie's hat,<br>An ilk ane worth three hundred pound:<br>'What wants that knave that a king shou'd have,<br>But the sword of honour and the crown?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Oh, where got thee these targats, Johnnie.<br>That blink sae brawly aboon thy brie?'<br>'I gat them in the field fechting, <br>Where, cruel king, thou durst not be.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Had I my horse and harness gude,<br>And riding as I wont to be,<br>It shou'd have been tauld this hundred year,<br>The meeting of my king and me!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'God be with thee, Kirsty, my brother,<br>Lang live thou laird of Mangertoun!<br>Lang may'st thou live on the Border side,<br>Ere thou see thy brother ride up and down!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'And God he with thee, Kirsty, my son,<br>Where thou sits on thy nurse's knee!<br>But an thou live this hundred year,<br>Thy father's better thou'lt never be.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Farewell, my bonnie Gilnock hall,<br>Where on Esk side thou standest stout!<br>Gif I had lived but seven years mair,<br>I wou'd ha'e gilt thee round about.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">John murder'd was at Carlinrigg,<br>And all his gallant companie;<br>But Scotland's heart was ne'er sae wae,<br>To see sae mony brave men die;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Because they saved their country dear<br>Frae Englishmen! Nane were sae bauld<br>While Johnnie lived on the Border side,<br>Nane of them durst come near his hauld.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Andrew+Lang">Andrew Lang</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=344261" data-title="Johnnie Armstrang de Andrew Lang" data-description="Some speak of lords, some speak of lairds, And sic like men of high degree; Of a gentleman I sing a sang, Some time call'd Laird of Gilnockie. The king he writes a loving letter, With his ain hand sae tenderlie, And he hath sent it to Johnnie Arm..."></div> </div> </div>

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