And he has rewarded Wise William
Wi' the best half o' his land;
And sae has he the turtle dow
Wi' the truth o' his right hand.140
BONNIE ANNIE.
From Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 123.
"There is a prevalent belief among seafaring people, that if a person who has committed any heinous crime be on ship-board, the vessel, as if conscious of its guilty burden, becomes unmanageable, and will not sail till the offender be removed: to discover whom, they usually resort to the trial of those on board, by casting lots; and the individual upon whom the lot falls, is declared the criminal, it being believed that Divine Providence interposes in this manner to point out the guilty person."—Kinloch.
Motherwell is inclined to think this an Irish ballad, though popular in Scotland.
With Bonnie Annie may be compared Jon Rimaardsöns Skriftemaal, Danske Viser, ii. 220; or, Herr Peders Sjöresa, Svenska Folk-Visor, ii. 31, Arwiddson, ii. 5 (translated in Literature and Romance of Northern Europe, 276).
There was a rich lord, and he lived in Forfar,
He had a fair lady, and one only dochter.
O she was fair, O dear! she was bonnie,
A ship's captain courted her to be his honey.