Ewan MacColl (Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland) maintains that the name Dainty Davie refers to the Reverend David Williamson, who died in 1706. It seems, says MacColl, that the Reverend was the subject of an unauthenticated incident related by Dean Swift. Williamson found himself pursued by dragoons, the story goes, and while sensibly fleeing he found refuge in the bed of the daughter of the Laird of Cherrytrees. Hiding was apparently not the only act he engaged in while so occupied, but afterward he married the lass. A variant of the story has it that the young miss (from whose voice the song is told) disguised the Reverend in her clothing, tweaking him a bit by calling him 'dainty' Davie.