University of Virginia Library


457

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.’