Title: Folk & Traditional Song Lyrics - Bonnie Lass o' Benachie

Folk & Traditional Song Lyrics www.traditionalmusic.co.uk Bonnie Lass o' Benachie 
Bonnie Lass o' Benachie 
Once I loved a lady fair She was a beauty I do declare The fairest flower in the north country The bonnie lass o' Benachie 
She was an heir o' house and lan' And I was but a poor man's son It was her birth and high degree That parted my true love and me 
Great knights and squires from a distance came To court this fair and lovely dame But all their offers proved in vain For none her favor could obtain 
But when her parents came to know That I did love their daughter so They judasly betrayed me For keeping o' her company 
Twas at Auld Rayne that I was ta'en A prisoner for Lady Jean In fetters strong then I was bound And carried on to Aberdeen 
I was enbarked at the shore Never to see my darling more In Germany a soldier to be All for the lass o' Benachie 
When I arrived in foreign lands A letter from my true love came With her respects in each degree Signed by the lass o' Benachie 
The answer which to her I sent Never to my true love went For her cruel parents told her then That in foreign lands I was slain 
Which made this lady weep full sore To think she'd never meet me more 
It caused her weep most bitterly Such tidings from high Germany 
Her father said, "Your tear refrain To weep for him it is in vain I have a better match for thee To enjoy the lands o' Benachie" 
"He was the lover of my youth In pledge he had my faith and troth I've made a vow, I'll wed with none Since my true love is dead and gone" 
Oh, she's put on the robes o' green Which was most comely to be seen Oh had he been a crowned king This lady fair might been his queen 
Oh every finger she put a ring On her mid finger she put three And she is on to high Germany In hopes her true lover to see 
When she came to high Germany By fortune her lover she did see Upon a lofty rampart wall As he was standing sentery 
The first she met was the Colonel then And he asked her most courteously From whense she came and where she was boun' Her name and from what countery 
"From fair Scotland," she said, "I came In hopes my lover true to see And now I hear he's a grenadier Into your lordship's company." 
"Wha's thy lover's name, my comely dame Oh lady fair come tell me than For it's a pity that thy love should be In the station of a single man" 
"Willie Knight is my lover's name All this hardship's suffered for me Tho' it should cost me thousands ten A single man nae mair he'll be" 
Willie Knight was called then 
His own true love once more to see And when he saw her well fared face The tears o' joy did blin' his e'e 
Wi' kisses sweet the lovers met Most joyfully as we are told She changed his dress from the worsted lace To the crimson scarlet trimmed with gold 
But when her parents came to know That their daughter abroad was gone They sent a letter on express To call these two fond lovers home 
To Willie went a free discharge All for the sake o' Lady Jean And now they live in sweet content Into the shire o' Aberdeen 
refers to incident in 1770 involving heiress Miss Erskine printed in Gavin Grieg SOF