Betsy Bell and Mary Gray

Child #201
(Steeleye Span)


Betsy Bell and Mary Gray, 
They were bonny lasses.
They bigget a bower in yon burnside,
And theekit it o'er wi' rashes.

They theekit it o'er wi' rashes green,
They theekit it o'er wi' heather;
But the plague came from the burrows-town,
And it slew them baith taegither.

They would not have their shoes of red,
Nor would they have them yellow,
But they would have their shoes of green
To ride through the streets of yarrow.

They thought to lye in Methren Kirk yard,
Amang their noble kin;
But they maun lye in Stronach haugh,
All out beneath the sun.

Betsy Bell and Mary Gray,
They were bonny lasses
They bigget a bower in yon burnside,
And they theekit it o'er wi' rashes.


Francis James Child collected together a great number of English
and Scottish ballads and published this song as No. 201.  It
concerns two Scottish ladies who sought to escape the plague
(probably 1645) by hiding themselves in a remote place. Tradition
has it that a young man bringing them food also brought the
contagion. This version came from the redoubtable Martin Carthy.

On "Tempted and Tried" album, copyright (c) 1989