Martha Reid recalls hearing a song about a battle...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1957.8.B11
Original Tape ID
Summary
Martha Reid recalls hearing a song, possibly about the Battle of Killiecrankie, in which Scottish soldiers bathed their horses' feet in English blood.
Item Notes
The contributor is likely recalling a fragment of the 'The Battle of Otterburn' (Child 161), rather than 'Killiecrankie'; Walter Scott provided a version of the Otterburn ballad in the second edition of his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1803) with the lines:
'The Gordon's good, in English blood,
They steep'd their hose and shoon' [trousers and shoes]
It is possible that the contributor recalls 'horse's shoon' [horse's shoes] for the similar sounding 'hose and shoon' [trousers and shoes].
Recording Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Little Dunkeld
Village/Place - Birnam
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair