Robert Burns: How To Know Him Part 26

Wi' joctelegs they taste them; [pocket-knives]

Syne coziely, aboon the door, [Then, above]

Wi' cannie care they've plac'd them [cautious]

To lie that night.

The la.s.ses staw frae 'mang them a' [stole]

To pou their stalks o' corn;[9]

But Rab slips out, an' jinks about, [dodges]

Behint the muckle thorn: He grippit Nelly hard an' fast; Loud skirled a' the la.s.ses; [squealed]

But her tap-pickle maist was lost, [almost]

When kiutlin' i' the fause-house[10] [cuddling]

Wi' him that night.

The auld guidwife's well-hoordit nits[11] [well-h.o.a.rded nuts]

Are round an' round divided, An' mony lads' an' la.s.ses' fates Are there that night decided: Some kindle, couthie, side by side, [comfortably]

An' burn thegither trimly; Some start awa, wi' saucy pride, An' jump out-owre the chimlie [out of the chimney]

Fu' high that night.

Jean slips in twa, wi' tentie e'e; [watchful]

Wha 'twas, she wadna tell; But this is _Jock_, an' this is _me_, She says in to hersel: [whispers]

He bleez'd owre her, an' she owre him, [blazed]

As they wad never mair part; Till fuff! he started up the lum, [chimney]

An' Jean had e'en a sair heart To see't that night.

Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt, [cabbage stump]

Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie, [precise Molly]

An' Mary, nae doubt, took the drunt, [huff]

To be compar'd to Willie: Mall's nit lap out, wi' pridefu' fling, [leapt, start]

An' her ain fit it brunt it; [foot]

While Willie lap, an' swoor by jing, [by Jove]

'Twas just the way he wanted To be that night.

Nell had the fause-house in her min', [mind]

She pits hersel an' Rob in; In loving bleeze they sweetly join, Till white in ase they're sobbin: [ashes]

Nell's heart was dancin' at the view: She whisper'd Rob to leuk for't: Rob, stownlins, prie'd her bonnie mou', [by stealth, tasted, mouth]

Fu' cozie in the neuk for't, [corner]

Unseen that night.

But Merran sat behint their backs, [Marian]

Her thoughts on Andrew Bell; She lea'es them gashin' at their cracks, [leaves, gabbing, chat]

An' slips out by hersel: She thro' the yard the nearest taks, [nearest way]

An' to the kiln she goes then, An' darklins grapit for the bauks, [in the dark, groped, beams]

And in the blue-clue[12] throws then, Right fear'd that night. [frightened]

An' aye she win't, an' aye she swat, [wounded, sweated]

I wat she made nae jaukin'; [know, trifling]

Till something held within the pat, [kiln-pot]

Guid Lord! but she was quaukin'!

But whether 'twas the Deil himsel, Or whether 'twas a bauk-en', [beam-end]

Or whether it was Andrew Bell, She did na wait on talkin To spier that night. [ask]

Wee Jenny to her grannie says, 'Will ye go wi' me, grannie?

I'll eat the apple[13] at the gla.s.s, I gat frae uncle Johnie:'

She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt, [puffed, smoke]

In wrath she was sae vap'rin, She noticed na an aizle brunt [cinder burnt]

Her braw new worset ap.r.o.n [worsted]

Out-thro' that night.

'Ye little skelpie-limmer's face! [young hussy's]

I daur you try sic sportin', [dare]

As seek the foul Thief ony place, [Devil]

For him to spae your fortune! [tell]

Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!

Great cause ye hae to fear it; For mony a ane has gotten a fright, An' lived an' died deleerit, [delirious]

On sic a night.

'Ae hairst afore the Sherra-moor,-- [One harvest, Sherriffmuir]

I mind't as weel's yestreen, [remember, last night]

I was a gilpey then, I'm sure [young girl]

I was na past fyfteen: The simmer had been cauld an' wat, An' stuff was unco green; [grain, extremely]

An' aye a rantin' kirn we gat, [rollicking harvest-home]

An' just on Halloween It fell that night.

'Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen, [chief harvester]

A clever, st.u.r.dy fallow; His sin gat Eppie Sim wi' wean, [son, child]

That liv'd in Achmacalla; He gat hemp-seed,[14] I mind it weel, An' he made unco light o't: [very]

But mony a day was by himsel, [beside himself]

He was sae sairly frighted [sorely]

That vera night.'

Then up gat fechtin' Jamie Fleck, [fighting]

An' he swoor by his conscience That he could saw hemp-seed a peck; [sow]

For it was a' but nonsense: [merely]

The auld guidman raught down the pock, [reached, bag]

An' out a handfu' gied him; [gave]

Syne bad him slip frae 'mang the folk, [Then]

Sometime when nae ane see'd him, [saw]

An' try't that night.

He marches thro' amang the stacks, Tho' he was something sturtin'; [staggering]

The graip he for a harrow taks, [dung-fork]

An' haurls at his curpin: [trails, back]

An' ev'ry now an' then, he says, 'Hemp-seed! I saw thee, An' her that is to be my la.s.s Come after me an' draw thee As fast this night.'

He whistled up Lord Lennox' march, To keep his courage cheery; Altho' his hair began to arch, He was sae fley'd an' eerie: [scared, awe-struck]

Till presently he hears a squeak, An' then a grane an' gruntle; [groan]

He by his shouther gae a keek, [shoulder gave, peep]

An' tumbl'd wi' a wintle [summersault]

Out-owre that night.