The Book of Scottish Song/Hie, bonnie lassie

Hie, bonnie lassie.

[This popular song has hitherto appeared in all the collections as an anonymous production, but we have the authority of a highly esteemed correspondent for saying that it was written by the Rev. James Honeyman, minister of Kinneff, in Kincardineshire, who died at an advanced age in or about the year 1779. Mr. Honeyman wrote other poetical pieces, but none of them came before the public except this song, and the circumstance that brought it to light was this. About the time it was written, an itinerant teacher of music appeared in the district, and happening to get a copy of it, he sang it in his classes, at his concerts, and on other occasions, till it acquired a local popularity, and the demand for copies increased so much that the aid of the printer was called in to supply them, and thus, by and bye, it came to be spread over the country in ballad-books and broad-sheets. It is surprising that "Hie bonnie lassie" should have escaped so successful a collector as David Herd, who was himself a native of Kincardineshire.]

Hie, bonnie lassie, blink over the burn,
And if your sheep wander I'll gi'e them a turn;
Sae happy as we'll be on yonder green shade,
If ye'll be my dawtie, and sit in my plaid.

A yowe and twa lammies are a' my haill stock,
But I'll sell a lammie out o' my wee flock,
To buy thee a head-piece, sae bonnie and braid,
If ye'll be my dawtie, and sit in my plaid.

I ha'e a wee whittle made me a trout creel,
And, oh, that wee whittle I likit it weel;
But I'll gi'e't to my lassie, and mair if I had,
If she'll be my dawtie, and sit in my plaid.

I ha'e little siller, but ae hauf-year's fee,
But if ye will tak' it, I'll gi'e't a' to thee;
And then we'll be married, and lie in ae bed,
If ye'll be my dawtie, and sit in my plaid.

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