The child is crying, and she is trying
To lull it asleep--balow! balow!
And while she is singing, the snowflakes are winging
And whirling in eddies all through, all through.
I listed the rening and wondered the meaning:
Was it the tale of her woe, her woe--
A truthful crooning or a maniac mooning--
All in the forest of Rumbollow?
[Footnote A: The old song called "Rumbollow Fair" is said by
Pinkerton to have been lost. I have heard a refrain, "All in the
Forest of Rumbollow," but whether this has any relation to the
old song I do not know. I fear I am altogether responsible for
this rhapsodical effusion.]
THE SONG OF THE BETRAYED.
"Balow! balow! my bonnie bairn--
Nae father to care for you;
As your mother has sinned so shall she earn,
And to her the world is hard and stern,
Who has loved and lived to rue,
Balow!
Who has loved and lived to rue.
"On Rumbollow green my love lies slain,
As he cam' frae Rumbollow Fair;
His bodie lies deep amang rushes green,
Where corbies pike at his bonnie blue een,
And taeds sleep in his hair,
Balow!
And taeds sleep in his hair.
"The grey owl sits on yon willow tree,
Whose branches o'er him weep,
And sends its scream far o'er the lea,
Where night winds whisper mournfullie,
And through the rashes sweep,
Balow!
And through the rashes sweep.
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