+The Text+ of this ballad was sent to Professor Child by Mr. C. E.
Dalrymple of Kinaldie, Aberdeenshire, from whose version the printed
variants (_Notes and Queries_, Third Series, vii. 393, and Aytoun's
_Ballads of Scotland_, i. 75) have been more or less directly derived.
The ballad is one of those mentioned in _The Complaynt of Scotland_
(1549), like the 'Hunttis of Chevet' (see p. 2 of this volume). It is
again mentioned as being in print in 1668; but the latter may possibly
refer to a poem on the battle, afterwards printed in Allan Ramsay's
_Evergreen_. The fact that the present ballad omits all reference to the
Earl of Mar, and deals with the Forbes brothers, who are not otherwise
known to have taken part in the battle, disposes Professor Child to
believe that it is a comparatively recent ballad.
+The Story.+--The battle of Harlaw was fought on July 24, 1411. Harlaw
is eighteen miles north-west of Aberdeen, Dunidier a hill on the
Aberdeen road, and Netherha' is close at hand. Balquhain (2.2) is a mile
south of Harlaw, while Drumminnor (15.3) is more than twenty miles
away--though the horse covered the distance there and back in 'twa hours
an' a quarter' (16.3).
The ballad is narrated by 'John Hielan'man' to Sir James the Rose
(derived from the ballad of that name given earlier in the present
volume) and Sir John the Gryme (Graeme). 'Macdonell' is Donald of the
Isles, who, as claimant to the Earldom of Ross, advanced on Aberdeen,
and was met at Harlaw by the Earl of Mar and Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff
of Angus. It was a stubborn fight, though it did not last from Monday to
Saturday (23), and Donald lost nine hundred men and the other party five
hundred.
Child finds a difficulty with the use of the word 'she' in 4.3, despite
'me' in the two previous lines. Had it been 'her,' the difficulty would
not have arisen.