This thread is FAR too long!! I read about halfway, but couldn't make myself finish. Still I can't resist adding my two cents worth. The Reivers learned two versions. What we called the 'expurgated' version we came across first [I don't remember where or by whom]:

1] Once there was a tender maid \ She was mistress of her trade,
   She fell in wi' a roving blade \ And his name was Dainty Davie.

Cho: Leeze me on thy curly pow \ Bonnie Davie, dainty Davie.
       Leeze me on thy curly pow \ He was her Dainty Davie.

2] In through the wondow brought \ Weel's the pleasure she might tot,
   The sweetest kiss she ever got \ Was from her Dainty Davie.

3] Doon amang her faether's leas \ E'en below the cherry trees
   There he kissed her as he pleased \ He was her dainty Davie.

It made little sense but had a nice melody. Then we found what we called an 'unexpurgated' version which sounded more like the original:

1] Bein' persued by the Dragoons, in ma bed he was laid doon.
   We'el I wat he was worth his room, my ain, dear Dainty Davie.

Cho: [Same as in the expurgated version above]

2] Ma mither laid him at ma back, I trow he lay na lang at that,
   But turned and in a verra crack, produced a 'Dainty Davie'.

3] In the field amang the pease, behin' the hoose and cherry trees,
   Again he won atweesh ma thies, and splash! gaed oot his gravy.

4] Had I gould or had I land, It should be a' at his command.
   I'll ne'er forget wha' he pat i' ma hand; It was a Dainty Davie.

We assumed that poll referred to the head or forehead and that leeze meant lay, hence: lay on me your curly head. We never heard the story behind the incident as told early in this thread, and knowing of it makes the whole song far more interesting! I'm happy to learn the general background and wish we'd gone to the trouble of researching it then. This was in the 1970s\early '80s, and I was not aware of a resource like the Mudcat. [Actually, it wouldn't have helped as I didn't even have a computer in those days and had never heard of the internet.]

Reiver 2

Reiver 2
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