The English and Scottish Popular Ballads/Part 6/Chapter 183

by Francis James Child

 

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A

'TURN, Willie Macintosh,
Turn, I bid you;
Gin ye burn Auchindown,
Huntly will head you.'
'Head me or hang me,
That canna fley me;
I'll burn Auchendown
Ere the life lea me.'
Coming down Deeside,
In a clear morning,
Auchindown was in flame,
Ere the cock-crawing.
But coming oer Cairn Croom,
And looking down, man,
I saw Willie Macintosh
Burn Auchindown, man,
'Bonny Willie Macintosh,
Whare left ye your men?'
'I left them in the Stapler,
But they'll never come hame.'
'Bonny Willie Macintosh,
Whare now is your men?'
'I left them in the Stapler,
Sleeping in their sheen.'

 

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B

AS I came in by Fiddich-side,
In a May morning,
I met Willie Mackintosh,
An hour before the dawning.
'Turn again, turn again,
Turn again, I bid ye;
If ye burn Auchindown,
Huntly he will head ye.'
'Head me, hang me,
That sall never fear me;
I'll burn Auchindown
Before the life leaves me.'
As I came in by Auchindown,
In a may morning,
Auchindown was in a bleeze,
An hour before the dawning.

• * * * *
  

Crawing, crawing,
For my crowse crawing,
I lost the best feather i my wing
For my crowse crawing.