THE BONNIE HOUSE O AIRLIE—B
1
It fell on a day, a clear summer day,
When the corn grew green and bonny,
That there was a combat did fall out
'Tween Argyle and the bonny house of Airly.
2
Argyle he did raise five hundred men,
Five hundred men, so many,
And he did place them by Dunkeld,
Bade them shoot at the bonny house of Airly.
3
The lady looked over her own castle-wa,
And oh, but she looked weary!
And there she espied the gleyed Argyle,
Come to plunder the bonny house of Airly.
4
‘Come down the stair now, Madam Ogilvie,
And let me kiss thee kindly;
Or I vow and I swear, by the sword that I wear,
That I winna leave a standing stone at Airly.’
5
‘O how can I come down the stair,
And how can I kiss thee kindly,
Since you vow and you swear, by the sword that you wear,
That you winna leave a standing stone on Airly?’
6
‘Come down the stair then, Madam Ogilvie,
And let me see thy dowry;’
‘O't is east and it is west, and't is down by yon burn-side,
And it stands at the planting sae bonny.
7
‘But if my brave lord had been at hame this day,
As he is wi Prince Charlie,
There durst na a Campbell in all Scotland
Set a foot on the bowling-green of Airly
8
‘O I hae born him seven, seven sons,
And an eighth neer saw his daddy,
And tho I were to bear him as many more,
They should a' carry arms for Prince Charlie.’
