Fife Folk Tales by Kinninmonth Sheila

Author:Kinninmonth, Sheila
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750981927
Publisher: The History Press

THE LEGEND OF THE LADY OF BALWEARIE

Said to date from the sixteenth century, this legend was published in 1860 in the form of a ballad. It tells of how a monk, banished from Balwearie when the laird disposed of lands belonging to the Church, came back one stormy night to the castle and, in front of the lady of the house, pronounced a terrible curse on the house and family:

‘My curse be now upon this house,

And on that bairn beside you.

Deserted be the Bowers

And empty be the towers

Of the Castle of Balwearie.

Who spoils the Kirk will spoiled be,

Grim vengeance down shall bear you.

The name of Scott shall be forgot,

In the Castle o’ Balwearie.’

The wind was howling as he went on his way, only to die near the castle in the rough weather. But his curse remained and came all too true. The ‘bairn’, the only son and heir, soon became ill and died, leaving the lady lamenting:

‘How can I be but dull today?

How can I be but drearie?

I once was glad, but now am sad,

In the Castle o’ Balwearie.’

A second, much more macabre version of the legend exists, also in ballad form. In this grim tale, Lady Scott of Balwearie commissioned a builder named Lambkin to build a second tower for her to use as a summerhouse. She refuses to pay him for his work and the disappointed builder approaches her husband.

It’s Lamkin was a mason good as ever built wi’ stane;

He built Lord Wearie’s castle but payment got he nane.

O pay me, Lord Wearie, come pay me my fee,

I canna pay you Lamkin for I maun gang o’er the sea.

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