Robert Burns
Tam O’Shanter
When chapman billies150 leave the street,
And drouthy151 neebors neebors meet,
As market-days are wearing late
An’ folk begin to tak the gate;152
While we sit bousing at the nappy,153
An’ getting fou154 and unco155 happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses,156 waters, slaps,157 and styles,
That lie between us and our hame,
Whare sits our sulky, sullen dame,
Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.
This truth fand honest Tam O’Shanter,
As he frae Ayr ae158 night did canter,
(Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses,
For honest men and bonnie lasses.)
O Tam! hadst thou but been sae wise
As ta’en thy ain wife Kate’s advice!
She tauld thee weel thou wast a skellum,159
A blethering,160 blustering, drunken blellum;161
That frae November till October,
Ae market-day thou wasna sober;
That ilka melder,162 wi’ the miller,
Thou sat as lang as thou had siller;
That every naig was ca’d163 a shoe on,
The smith and thee gat roaring fou on;
That at the Lord’s house, even on Sunday,
Thou drank wi’ Kirten Jean till Monday.
She prophesy’d that, late or soon,
Thou would be found deep drowned in Doon,
Or catch’d wi’ warlocks in the mirk,
By Alloway’s auld haunted kirk.
Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet,164
To think how monie counsels sweet,
How monie lengthened, sage advices
The husband frae the wife despises!..
Nae man can tether time or tide;
The hour approaches Tam maun165 ride;
That hour, o’ night’s black arch the key-stane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;
And sic166 a night he taks the road in,
As ne’er poor sinner was abroad in.
The wind blew as ’twad blawn its last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed;
Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellowed:
That night, a child might understand,
The Deil had business on his hand.
(Mounted on his gray mare Maggie, Tarn pursues his homeward way in safety till, reaching Kirk-Alloway, he sees the windows in a blaze, and, looking in, beholds a dance of witches, with Old Nick playing the fiddle. Most of the witches are any thing but inviting, but there is one winsome wench, called Nannie, who dances in a “cutty-sark,” or short smock.)
But here my muse her wing maun cower;
Sic flights are far beyond her power;
To sing how Nannie lap and flang167
(A souple jade she was, and strang),
And how Tam stood like are bewitched,
And thought his very e’en enriched.
Even Satan glowered and fidged fu’ fain,168
And hotch’d169 and blew wi’ might and main;
Till first ae caper, syne170 anither,
Tam tint171 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 sallied.
As bees bizz out wi’ angry fyke,172
When plundering herds assail their byke;173
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’ monie an eldritch skreech and hollow,
Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou’ll get thy fairin’!174
In hell they’ll roast thee like a herrin’!
In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin’:
Kate soon will be a woefu’ woman.
Now do thy speedy utmost Meg,
And win the key-stane of the brig;175
There at them thou thy tail may toss,
A running stream they dare na cross,
But ere the key-stane she could make,
The fient176 a tale she had to shake,
For Nannie, far before the rest,
Hard upon noble Maggie pressed,
And flew at Tam wi’ furious ettle;177
But little wist she Maggie’s mettle—
Ae spring brought aff her master hale,178
But left behind her ain gray tail;
The carlin179 claught180 her by the rump,
And left poor Maggie scarce a stump.
Notes
150 Peddler fellows.
151 Thirsty.
152 Road home.
153 Ale.
154 Full.
155 Uncommonly.
156 Swamps.
157 Gaps in a hedge.
158 One.
159 Good-for-nothing.
160 Babbling.
161 Gossip.
162 Every time corn was sent to the mill.
163 Driven.
164 Makes me weep.
165 Must.
166 Such.
167 Leaped and flung.
168 Stared and fidgeted with eagerness.
169 Hitched about.
170 Then.
171 Lost.
172 Fuss.
173 Hive.
174 Deserts.
175 Bridge.
176 Devil.
177 Aim.
178 Whole.
179 Hag.
180 Caught.