The Bonnie Moorhen

My bonnie moorhen, my bonnie moorhen,

Up in the grey hill, doon in the glen;
It's when ye gang but the house, when ye gang ben,
Aye drink a health to my bonnie moorhen.
    
My bonnie moorhen's gane over the main
And it will be simmer or she comes again;
But when he comes back again some folk will ken,
joy be with thee, my bonnie moorhen.

My bonnie moorhen has feathers anew,
She's a' fine colours, but nane o' them blue.
She's red and she's white and she's green and she's grey,
My bonnie moorhen, come hither away.
    
Come up by Glenduich and down by Glendee,
And round by Kinclaven and hither to me;
For Ronald and Donald are oot on the fen
Tae break the wing of my bonnie moorhen.

My bonnie moorhen's gane over the main
And it will be simmer or she comes again;
But when he comes back again some folk will ken,
joy be with thee, my bonnie moorhen.

joy be with thee, my bonnie moorhen.

Nearly all the Jacobite songs were “cried down songs”; that is, they were proscribed. Consequently, songwriters and singers tended to codify their verses. Charles Stuart appears in the songs in a host of disguises; as a blackbird, as “our guidman” and, in this song, as a moorhen. The colours mentioned in the second verse allude to those found in the Clan Stuart tartan.

Erwan MacColl, The Jacobite Rebellions (1962)

Alba gu bràth

Charles Edward Stuart 1720-1788. Charles Edward Stuart, known as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ or ‘the Young Pretender’, was born in 1720. He was the grandson of King James VII of Scotland and II of England.

Bonnie Prince Charlie tartan (Vyella). Source: https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails.aspx?ref=311 See also: http://www.tartansauthority.com/