Джеймс Макферсон, вожак банды разбойников и угонщиков скота, был повешен в городе Банфе в 1700 году. По пути на эшафот он пел песню собственного сочинения, ставшую основой для народной баллады. А через много, много лет балладу переработал Роберт Бёрнс...
И вот что из этого получилось.
McPherson's Farewell
Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong,
The wretch's destinie!
McPherson's time will not be long,
On yonder gallows-tree.
Chorus
Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gae'd he:
He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round
Below the gallows-tree.
O what is death but parting breath?
On many a bloody plain
I've dar'd his fase, and in this plase
I scorn him yet again!
Sae rantingly, & c.
Untie these bands from off my hands,
And bring to me my sword;
And there's no man in all Scotland,
But I'll brave him at a word.
Sae rantingly, & c.
I've liv'd a life of sturt and strife;
I die by treacherie:
It burns my heart I must depart
And not avenged be.
Sae rantingly, & c.
Now farewell, light, thou sunshine bright,
And all beneath the sky!
May coward shame distain his name,
The wretch that dares not die!
Sae rantingly, & c.
(c) Robert Burns