The lead verse of the ballad is: It fell about the Lammas tide, When the muir-men win their hay, The doughty Earl of Douglas rode Into England, to catch a prey.
James, 2nd Earl of Douglas, who led the raid, was mortally wounded in this battle, and the ballad represents "My wound is deep, I fain would sleep" as his dying words.
[3][4] Child's version A is represented by two manuscript recensions in the British Library.
The Aa (MS Cotton Cleopatra C. iv, around 1550) was first printed in Thomas Percy's fourth edition of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol.
[7][8] The Corries sang a truncated version, consisting of the first eight verses down to the fall of Percy, with the title "Lammas Tide".