Thomas of Erceldoune

“ When the gled in his clift is clim to the height,
He counts not the lion that he is kind Lord:
When the griap would govern all and gapes thereafter
With great gifts of gold the flower would he get,
Come he once in his clooks, he covers him never!
Then would a poor captive be keeper of the Kyth,
Yet shall it fail the freit that the fool thinks,
When the cock crows, keep well his comb:
For the fox and the fulmast they are false both,
When the raven and the rook is rounded together,
And the kid in his clift shall accord to the same,
Then shall they be bold, and soon to bail after ”

“ That wears the Cross as red as blood,
On every side shall be sorrow seen,
Defiled in many doughty food,
Besides a loch upon a lee,
They shall assemble upon a day,
And many doughty men shall die,
Few in quiet shall be found away. ”

“ That is Saint Michael, much of might:
The Knights two the field to tae,
Where many men in field shall fight:
Know you well it shall be sae,
That die shall many a gentle Knight:
With death shall many a doughty deal. ”

“ There shall the lion lie full still,
Into a valley fair and bright:
A lady shouts with words shril,
And says woe worth thee cruel knight,
Thy men are slain upon yon hill,
The dead are many doughty dight. ”

“ Till he and the swan be met,
They shall work woe with wounds wide,
Thro' wounds wide their weeds hath set,
So boldly will their bairns bide.
It is no reck who gets the best,
They shall both die in that same tide. ”

“ Then shall they a counsel call for peace of the Kyth,
To make love among Lords but that shall not last:
For those barons and batchelors that will not obey,
That will not keep to their cry, nor come to their call.
Then shall men be marked for their misdeeds,
That shall turn them to tein within a while after
When 14 are past, and twice three threep is at end,
And over a water he shall, fair and see for himself,
And in a fair forest shall an ern big.
Many men shall lose their life in the mean time;
For they shall pitch a field and fiercely fight ”