Cowe the Nettle early
Gin ye be for lang kail, Cowe the nettle, stoo the nettle: Gin ye be for lang kail, Cowe the nettle early.
Cowe it laich, cowe it sune, Cowe it in the month o’ June; Stoo it ere it’s in the bloom, Cowe the nettle early.
Cowe it by the old wa’s, Cowe it where the sun ne’er fa’s, Stoo it when the day daws, Cowe the nettle early.
Auld heuk wi’ no ae tooth, Cowe the nettle, stoo the nettle; Auld gluive wi’ leather loof, Cowe the nettle early.
The following curious song, which Mrs. Burns, the wife of the poet, was fond of crooning to her children, is not yet without some vogue outwith the printed page—though mainly in this verse, the place of which, by the bye, would be difficult to fix in the song as printed by Herd:—
The robin cam’ to the wren’s door, And keekit in, and keekit in: O, blessings on your bonnie pow, Wad ye be in, wad ye be in? I wadna let you lie thereout, And I within, and I within, As lang’s I hae a warm clout, To row ye in, to row ye in.
To students of Burns it will ever be of prime interest from the fact that its air, as played by Miss Jessie Lewars to the poet only a few days before his death, supplied the hint for his most tender and touching lyric, “O Wert them in the Cauld Blast.” Herd prints it thus:—