This page has been validated.
7
It was her best, and she was vauntie.—Ah! little kend thy reverend grannie,That sark she cost for her wee Nannie,Wi' twa pund Scots, ('twas a' her riches),Wad ever grac'd a dance of Witches!
But here my muse her wing maun cour;Sic flights are far beyond her pow'r;To sing how Nannie lap and flang,(A souple jade she was and strang),And how Tam stood, like ane bewitch'd,And thought his very een enrich'd;Even Satan glowr'd, and fidg'd' fu fain,And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main:Till first ae caper, fyne anither,Tam tint his reason a' thegither,And roars out, “Weel done, cutty sark!"And in an instant all was dark;And scarcely had he Maggie rallied,When out the hellish legion fallied.
As bees bizz out wi' angry syke,When plundering herds assail their byke;As open pussie's mortal foes,When, pop! she starts before their nose;As eager runs the market crowd,When "Catch the thief!” resounds aloud;So Maggie runs, the witches follow,Wi' mony an eldritch skreetch an' hollow.
Ah, Tam! Ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin!In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin!In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin!Kate soon will be a waefu' woman!Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,And win the key stane [1] of the brig;
- ↑ It is a well known fact that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any farther than the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveller, that when he falls in with bogles, whatever danger may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back.
