Paddo's Song 1. Oh, open your door, my hinny, my doo, Oh, open your door, my dearie; For dinna ye mind what we twa said When we met at the Wells o' Wearie? Oh, gie me my castock, my hinny, my doo, Oh, gie me my castock, my dearie; For dinna ye mind what we twa said When we met at the Wells o' Wearie! Oh, gie me your hand, my hinny, my doo, Oh, gie me your hand, my dearie; For dinna ye mind what we twa said When we met at the Wells o' Wearie? Oh, fare-ye-weel, my hinny, my doo, Oh, fare-ye-weel, my dearie; You're fause to what ye said to me When we met at the Wells o' Wearie. 2. Oh, open the door, my hinnie, my heart! Oh, open the door, my ain true love! An' mind the words that you and I spak' By the well o' the woods o' Wearie O! Oh, gi'e me my castock, my hinnie, my heart, Oh, gi'e me my castock, my ain true love! An' mind the words that you and I spak' By the well o' the woods o' Wearie O! Oh, gi'e me my kail, my hinnie, my heart, Oh, gi'e me my kail, my ain true love! An' mind the words that you and I spak' At the well in the woods o' Wearie. Oh, gi'e me your hand, my hinnie, my heart, Oh, gi'e me your hand, my ain true love! An' mind the words that you and I spak' By the well in the woods o' Wearie. Oh, wae to ye now, my hinnie, my heart, Oh, wae to ye now, my wise fause love! Ye've broken the words ye gi'ed to me At the well in the woods o' Wearie! ________________________________________________________ (1) SNQ V.9 (Feb. 1892), 140, from Edinburgh. [See SNQ V.10 (March 1892), 155.] (2) "The Ladye and the Fairy; or The Paddo's Sang", in Margaret Warrender, Walks Near Edinburgh (1890; 1895, 119); deriving from Lady John Scott. The Wells of Wearie are to the south-west of Arthur's Seat, the hill to the east of Edinburgh; another song connected therewith is "The Water o' Wearie's Well", also given by Warrender (118), and previously in Peter Buchan's Ancient Ballads and Songs (1828), II.201 (1875 repr., II.191); = Child 4B, "Lady Isabel and the Elf- Knight", otherwise called "May Colvin". There is also "The Bonnie Wells o' Wearie", a 19th-century sentimental ditty well suited to pub harmonies. Chambers (1847, 236 ["The Well o' the Warld's End"]; 1870, 87 ["The Paddo"]) has the tale, with verses, and quotes (1847) Leyden in The Complaynt, citing (probably) a Roxburgh version: "Open the door, my hinnie, my heart, Open the door, mine ain wee thing; And mind the words that you and I spak, Down in the meadow, at the well- spring" - and "Take me up on your knee, my dearie, Take me up on your knee, my dearie; And mind the words that you and I spak At the cauld well sae weary." MS
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!