Child, collecting in the 1870s, found four broadly similar versions. These all describe how the castle was destroyed by fire after Lady Ogilvy refused to reveal the whereabouts of the family treasure. However other versions continued in oral circulation and the one reproduced here, with its bleak penultimate verse, was collected on 27 June 1955 in
Fetterangus by
Hamish Henderson and
Peter Kennedy from Lucy Stewart: :It fell on a day, a bonny summer day, :When the corn was ripe and yellow, :That there fell oot a great dispute :Between Argyle aye and Airlie. :Lady Margaret looked o’er yon high castle wall, :And O but she sighed sairly. :She saw Argyle and a his men :Come to plunder the bonny hoose o Airlie. :"Come doun, come doun Lady Margaret," he said. :"Come doun and kiss me fairly :Or gin the morning's clear daylight :I willna leave a standing stane in Airlie." :"I’ll no come doun, ye false Argyll, :Nor will I kiss thee fairly. :I wouldnae kiss the false Argyle :Though you wouldna leave a standin stane in Airlie." :"For if my gude lord had been at hame, :As he's awa wi Chairlie, :There wouldnae come a Campbell frae Argyle :Dare trod upon the bonny green o Airlie." :"For I hae bore him seven bonny sons, :The eighth yin has never seen his daddy :But if I had as mony ower again :They would all be men for Chairlie." :But poor Lady Margaret was forced to come doun :And oh but she sighed sairly :For there in front o all his men :She was ravished on the bowlin green o Airlie. :"Draw your dirks, draw your dirks," cried the brave Locheil. :"Unsheath your sword," cried Chairlie, :"We’ll kindle sic a lowe roond the false Argyle, :And licht it wi a spark oot o Airlie." Given the numerous references to "Chairlie" and the allusion to
Locheil, the song has inevitably taken on additional layers of meaning, being incorrectly understood to refer to
Charles Edward Stuart and
Archibald Cameron of Lochiel in the
1745 rebellion, long after the events at Airlie. ==Versions==