But to our tale: Ae market night, Tam had got planted unco right, [uncommonly]
Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, [fireside, blazing]
Wi" reaming swats, that drank divinely; [foaming ale]
And at his elbow, Souter Johnny, [Cobbler]
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony; Tam lo"ed him like a very brither; [loved]
They had been fou for weeks thegither.
The night drave on wi" sangs and clatter, And aye the ale was growing better; The landlady and Tam grew gracious, Wi" favours secret, sweet, and precious; The souter tauld his queerest stories; The landlord"s laugh was ready chorus; The storm without might rair and rustle, [roar]
Tam did na mind the storm a whistle.
Care, mad to see a man sae happy, E"en drown"d himsel amang the nappy.
As bees flee hame wi" lades o" treasure, [loads]
The minutes wing"d their way wi" pleasure; Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O"er a" the ills o" life victorious!
But pleasures are like poppies spread-- You seize the flow"r, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river-- A moment white, then melts for ever; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow"s lovely form Evanishing amid the storm.
Nae man can tether time nor tide; The hour approaches Tam maun ride; That hour, o" night"s black arch the key-stane, That dreary hour, he mounts his beast in; And sic a night he taks the road in; [such]
As ne"er poor sinner was abroad in.
The wind blew as "twad blawn its last; The rattling show"rs rose on the blast; The speedy gleams the darkness swallow"d; Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellow"d: That night, a child might understand, The Deil had business on his hand.
Weel mounted on his gray mare, Meg, A better never lifted leg, Tam skelpit on thro" dub and mire, [spanked, puddle]
Despising wind, and rain, and fire; Whiles holding fast his gude blue bonnet; Whiles crooning o"er some auld Scots sonnet; [song]
Whiles glow"ring round wi" prudent cares, [staring]
Lest bogles catch him unawares, [goblins]
Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh, Whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry. [ghosts, owls]
By this time he was cross the ford, Where in the snaw the chapman smoor"d; [smothered]
And past the birks and meikle stane, [birches, big]
Where drunken Charlie brak"s neck-bane; And thro" the whins, and by the cairn, [gorse, pile of stones]
Where hunters fand the murder"d bairn; [found]
And near the thorn, aboon the well, Where Mungo"s mither hang"d hersel, Before him Doon pours all his floods; The doubling storm roars thro" the woods; The lightnings flash from pole to pole; Near and more near the thunders roll; When, glimmering thro" the groaning trees, Kirk-Alloway seem"d in a bleeze; [blaze]
Thro" ilka bore the beams were glancing; [c.h.i.n.k]
And loud resounded mirth and dancing.
Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou canst make us scorn?
Wi tippenny, we fear nae evil; [ale]
Wi" usquebae, we"ll face the devil! [whisky]
The swats sae ream"d in Tammie"s noddle, [ale]
Fair play, he car"d na deils a boddle! [farthing]
But Maggie stood right sair astonish"d, Till by the heel and hand admonish"d, She ventur"d forward on the light; And, vow! Tam saw an unco sight! [strange]
Warlocks and witches in a dance!
Nae cotillon brent new frae France, [brand]
But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels, Put life and mettle in their heels.
A winnock-bunker in the east, [window-seat]
There sat auld Nick, in shape o" beast-- A touzie tyke, black, grim, and large! [s.h.a.ggy dog]
To gie them music was his charge: He screw"d the pipes and gart them skirl. [squeal]
Till roof and rafters a" did dirl. [ring]
Coffins stood round like open presses, That shaw"d the dead in their last dresses; And by some devilish cantraip sleight [magic trick]
Each in its cauld hand held a light, By which heroic Tam was able To note upon the haly table [holy]
A murderer"s banes in gibbet-airns; [-irons]
Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen"d bairns; A thief new-cutted frae the rape-- Wi" his last gasp his gab did gape; Five tomahawks, wi" blude red rusted; Five scymitars, wi" murder crusted; A garter, which a babe had strangled; A knife, a father"s throat had mangled, Whom his ain son o" life bereft-- The gray hairs yet stack to the heft; Wi" mair of horrible and awfu", Which even to name wad be unlawfu".
As Tammie glowr"d, amaz"d, and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious; The piper loud and louder blew; The dancers quick and quicker flew; They reel"d, they set, they cross"d, they cleekit, [linked]
Till ilka, carlin swat and reekit, [beldam, steamed]
And coost her duddies to the wark, [cast, rags, work]
And linkit at it in her sark! [tripped deftly, chemise]
Now Tam, O Tam! had thae been queans, [those, girls]
A" plump and strapping in their teens; Their sarks, instead o" creeshie flannen, [greasy flannel]
Been snaw-white seventeen hunder linen![21]
Thir breeks o" mine, my only pair, [These trousers]
That ance were plush, o" gude blue hair, I wad hae gi"en them off my hurdies, [b.u.t.tocks]
For ae blink o" the bonnie burdies! [maidens]
But wither"d beldams, auld and droll, Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, [Withered (?), wean]
Louping and flinging on a crummock, [Leaping, cudgel]
I wonder didna turn thy stomach.
But Tam kent what was what fu" brawlie: [full well]
There was ae winsome wench and walie [choice]
That night enlisted in the core, Lang after kent on Carrick sh.o.r.e!
(For mony a beast to dead she shot, [death]
And perish"d mony a bonnie boat, And shook baith meikle corn and bear, [barley]
And kept the country-side in fear.) Her cutty sark, o" Paisley harn, [short-shift, coa.r.s.e linen]
That while a la.s.sie she had worn, In longitude tho" sorely scanty, It was her best, and she was vauntie. [proud]
Ah! little kent thy reverend grannie That sark she coft for her wee Nannie [bought]
Wi" twa pund Scots ("twas a" her riches) [pounds]
Wad ever grac"d a dance of witches!
But here my muse her wing maun cour; [stoop]
Sic flights are far beyond her pow"r-- To sing how Nannie lap and flang, [leapt, kicked]
(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, [fidgeted with fondness]
And hotch"d and blew wi" might and main: [jerked]
Till first ae caper, syne anither, [then]
Tam tint his reason a" thegither, [lost]
And roars out "Weel done, Cutty-sark!" [Short-shift]
And in an instant all was dark!
And scarcely had he Maggie rallied, When out the h.e.l.lish legion sallied.
As bees bizz out wi" angry fyke [fret]
When plundering herds a.s.sail their byke, [herd-boys, nest]
As open p.u.s.s.ie"s mortal foes [the hare"s]
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 skriech and hollo. [weird screech]
Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou"ll get thy fairin"![22]
In h.e.l.l 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 o" the brig; There at them thou thy tail may toss, A running stream they darena cross.
But ere the key-stane she could make, The fient a tail she had to shake! [devil]