BOGIE'S BONNIE BELLE

As I gaed up to Huntly toon
Ae morning for a fee
I met Bogheid o' Cyarnie;
Wi' him I did agree.

To work his twa best horses,
Cart or harrow or plough,
Or anything aboot fairm work
I very well could do.

Auld Bogie had a dochter,
Her name was Isabelle;
The floo'er o' the valley
And the primrose o' the dell.

And when she went oot walking
She choosed me for her guide
Down by the burns o' Cyarnie
To watch the fishes glide.

The first six months had past an' gone,
The lassie lost her bloom;
The red fell from her bonnie cheeks
An' her eyes begin to swoom.

The neist nine months were scarcely o'er
She brought forth to me a young son
And I was quickly sent for
To see what could be done.

They said I should marry her
But Losh! that wouldna dae,
Sayin' I'm nae a match for your bonnie Belle
And she's nae match for me.

But noo she's married wi' a tinker lad
He comes frae Huntly toon;
He sells pots and pans and paraffin lamps
And he scours the country roun'.

But maybe she's gotten a better match,
Auld Bogie canna tell,
'Twas Peter took the maidenheid
O' Bogie's bonnie Belle.

As sung by Jane Stewart on Topic LP 12T179, "The Travelling Stewarts". Learnt from her father, Davy Stewart, whose version appears on Topic LP 12T157, "Songs of Courtship".

A few variations there.