CONTENTS:
Ancient ballads and songs of the north of Scotland hitherto ..., Volume 2 By Peter Buchan
DONALD M'QUEEN'S FLIGHT "WT LIZIE MENZIE. Page 112.
Donald M'Queen, the hero of this ballad, was one of the servants of Baron Seaton of Fyvie, who, with his master, had fled to Prance after the rebellion in 1715. Baron Seaton having died in France, Donald, his man, returned to Fyvie with one of his master's best horses, and procured a love potion, alias the "tempting cheese of Fyvie," which had the effect of bewitching, or, in other words, casting the glamour o'er his mistress, Lizie Menzie, the Lady of Fyvie. Some years afterwards this lady went through the country as a common pauper, when being much fatigued, and in a forlorn condition, she fell fast asleep in the mill of Fyvie, whither she had gone to solicit an alms (charity): on her awakening, she declared that she had just now slept as soun' a sleep with the meal-pock beneath her head, as ever she had done on the best down-bed of Fyvie. This information I had from James Rankin, an old blind man, who is well acquainted with the traditions of the country.