183
WILLIE MACINTOSH
Burning of Auchindown
WILLIE MACINTOSH—A
[_]
a. The Thistle of Scotland, p. 106, 1823. b. Whitelaw,
The Book of Scottish Ballads, p. 248; from an Aberdeen
newspaper of about 1815.
1
‘Turn, Willie Macintosh,
Turn, I bid you;
Gin ye burn Auchindown,
Huntly will head you.’
2
‘Head me or hang me,
That canna fley me;
I'll burn Auchendown
Ere the life lea me.’
3
Coming down Deeside,
In a clear morning,
Auchindown was in flame,
Ere the cock-crawing.
4
But coming oer Cairn Croom,
And looking down, man,
I saw Willie Macintosh
Burn Auchindown, man.
5
‘Bonny Willie Macintosh,
Whare left ye your men?’
‘I left them in the Stapler,
But they'll never come hame.’
6
‘Bonny Willie Macintosh,
Whare now is your men?’
‘I left them in the Stapler,
Sleeping in their sheen.’
Willie Mackintosh
WILLIE MACINTOSH—B
[_]
Finlay's Scottish Ballads, II, 89, 1808, as recollected by
a lady and communicated by Walter Scott.
1
As I came in by Fiddich-side,
In a May morning,
I met Willie Mackintosh,
An hour before the dawning.
2
‘Turn again, turn again,
Turn again, I bid ye;
If ye burn Auchindown,
Huntly he will head ye.’
3
‘Head me, hang me,
That sall never fear me;
I'll burn Auchindown
Before the life leaves me.’
4
As I came in by Auchindown,
In a May morning,
Auchindown was in a bleeze,
An hour before the dawning.
[OMITTED]
5
Crawing, crawing,
For my crowse crawing,
I lost the best feather i my wing
For my crowse crawing.
