Walter Gregor printed two versions of the rhyme in 1881. One says Fyvie will be hapless while the three stones remain from the harried kirk's land, in Preston's tower, in my lady's bower and below the water yett. The tradition he records is that the walls stood wall-wide for seven years and a day waiting for Thomas. When he came, a storm of wind and rain broke over the place but there was a dead calm round the spot where he stood as he pronounced the castle's fate. Gregor says two of the stones had been found and the one beneath the water gate, which leads to the Ythan, had not.
Later retellings add that each stone weeps when trouble threatens the laird, and that one stone in the tower stays dry when the others are wet. Thomas the Rhymer was a real 13th century figure but the prophecies put in his mouth are traditional, and there is no evidence he ever visited Fyvie.
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