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.’