Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Bold Robber John / Three Pretty Sisters / Bubblin' Johnnie / The Bonnie Banks O' Airdrie / Bonnie Banks of Fordie / Babylon (Child No. 14) - Sung by Mrs. Martha "Peasie" Johnstone (Martha Reid), a Traveller of Birnam, Perthshire, Scotland. She learned the song from her great-grandfather David Whyte from Aberdeenshire. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in February 1957 for the School of Scottish Studies.
Note by Kevin W.:
The interlaced refrain has disappeared in this version. A similar thing happened with Martha's text of "The Elfin Knight" (Child 2). Notably none of the Traveller versions I've heard explicitly mention that Bold Robber John kills the first two sisters.
Martha's is one of few recent texts to mention the robber being a "banished man" (in the penultimate verse). It is quite an important detail, it explains why he doesn't recognise his sisters.
In 1960 Betsy Miller (the mother of folk singer Ewan MacColl) of Auchterarder, Perthshire also sang a version that mentions the banishment, even though this plot point is no longer relevant in her text which has a different ending: youtube.com/watch?v=3LrKFkSn1CM
Martha Johnstone learned the old songs from her grandparents and from older Travellers. We're indebted to her for sharing her songs with people and to Maurice Fleming and Hamish Henderson in the 1950s, Peter Shepheard in the 1960s and Linda Williamson in later years for visiting and recording her.
Martha told Linda Williamson how she tried to teach The Golden Vanity to her grandchildren, to get them interested in the old songs, but they had more interest in television than singing. Most singers, and especially Travellers felt regret at not being able to pass their songs on to a new generation. A song wasn't only a song, it was a living memory of their parents, their forebears. While singing there was a strong emotional connection with the person the song was learned from. When that person passed their memory lived on whenever the song was sung.
The original recording can be listened to here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/21698?l=en
A biography of Martha Johnstone along with many further sound recordings can be found here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/2719?l=en
Linda Williamson's thesis on Scottish Traveller singing can be read here, it is well worth your time if you are interested in Martha Johnstone's song repertoire: era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/8223
Song transcription:
There being three pretty sisters being a-walking in thon wood,
When they met Bold Robber John which started them for to stand.
He catched the first pretty sister by the hand,
He wheeled her round and he made her stand,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.
'Oh will you be aye a rant robber's wife?
Or shall you die by my penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O?'
'Oh I'll not be aye a rant robber's wife,
I would rather die by your penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
He catched the second pretty sister by the hand,
He wheeled her round and he made her stand,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'Oh will you be aye a rant robber's wife?
Or shall you die by my penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O?'
'Oh I'll not be aye a rant robber's wife,
I would rather die by your penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
He catched the third pretty sister by the hand,
He wheeled her round and he made her stand,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'Oh will you be aye a rant robber's wife?
Or shall you die by my penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O?'
'Oh I'll not be aye a rant robber's wife,
Or I'll not die by your penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'I have a brother in this woods,
If you kill me, he's sure to kill you,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'Oh tell to me aye your brother's name,
Tell to me aye your brother's name,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'I have a brother, banisht owre the seas,
I have another, a minister in the West,
I have a brother in this woods,
Bold Robber John is his name,
And if you kill me he's sure to kill you,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.
'Oh dearie me, what is this I've done?
I killed my three pretty sisters aa but one,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
Bold Robber John / Three Pretty Sisters / Bubblin' Johnnie / The Bonnie Banks O' Airdrie / Bonnie Banks of Fordie / Babylon (Child No. 14) - Sung by Mrs. Martha "Peasie" Johnstone (Martha Reid), a Traveller of Birnam, Perthshire, Scotland. She learned the song from her great-grandfather David Whyte from Aberdeenshire. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in February 1957 for the School of Scottish Studies.
Note by Kevin W.:
The interlaced refrain has disappeared in this version. A similar thing happened with Martha's text of "The Elfin Knight" (Child 2). Notably none of the Traveller versions I've heard explicitly mention that Bold Robber John kills the first two sisters.
Martha's is one of few recent texts to mention the robber being a "banished man" (in the penultimate verse). It is quite an important detail, it explains why he doesn't recognise his sisters.
In 1960 Betsy Miller (the mother of folk singer Ewan MacColl) of Auchterarder, Perthshire also sang a version that mentions the banishment, even though this plot point is no longer relevant in her text which has a different ending: youtube.com/watch?v=3LrKFkSn1CM
Martha Johnstone learned the old songs from her grandparents and from older Travellers. We're indebted to her for sharing her songs with people and to Maurice Fleming and Hamish Henderson in the 1950s, Peter Shepheard in the 1960s and Linda Williamson in later years for visiting and recording her.
Martha told Linda Williamson how she tried to teach The Golden Vanity to her grandchildren, to get them interested in the old songs, but they had more interest in television than singing. Most singers, and especially Travellers felt regret at not being able to pass their songs on to a new generation. A song wasn't only a song, it was a living memory of their parents, their forebears. While singing there was a strong emotional connection with the person the song was learned from. When that person passed their memory lived on whenever the song was sung.
The original recording can be listened to here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/21698?l=en
A biography of Martha Johnstone along with many further sound recordings can be found here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/2719?l=en
Linda Williamson's thesis on Scottish Traveller singing can be read here, it is well worth your time if you are interested in Martha Johnstone's song repertoire: era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/8223
Song transcription:
There being three pretty sisters being a-walking in thon wood,
When they met Bold Robber John which started them for to stand.
He catched the first pretty sister by the hand,
He wheeled her round and he made her stand,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.
'Oh will you be aye a rant robber's wife?
Or shall you die by my penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O?'
'Oh I'll not be aye a rant robber's wife,
I would rather die by your penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
He catched the second pretty sister by the hand,
He wheeled her round and he made her stand,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'Oh will you be aye a rant robber's wife?
Or shall you die by my penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O?'
'Oh I'll not be aye a rant robber's wife,
I would rather die by your penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
He catched the third pretty sister by the hand,
He wheeled her round and he made her stand,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'Oh will you be aye a rant robber's wife?
Or shall you die by my penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O?'
'Oh I'll not be aye a rant robber's wife,
Or I'll not die by your penknife,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'I have a brother in this woods,
If you kill me, he's sure to kill you,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'Oh tell to me aye your brother's name,
Tell to me aye your brother's name,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
'I have a brother, banisht owre the seas,
I have another, a minister in the West,
I have a brother in this woods,
Bold Robber John is his name,
And if you kill me he's sure to kill you,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.
'Oh dearie me, what is this I've done?
I killed my three pretty sisters aa but one,
On the dewry, dewry banks of Airderie O.'
