THE AULD FARMER

The Auld Farmer's New-Year- Morning
Salutation to his Auld Mare, Maggie,1

On giving her the accustomed ripp of corn to hansel in the New-Year.
A GUID New-year I wish thee, Maggie!
Hae, there's a ripp to thy auld baggie:
Tho' thou's howe-backitd now, an' knaggie,"
I've seen the day

Thou could hae gaen like ony staggie,'
Out-owre the lay."

Tho' now thou's dowie,h stiff an' crazy,
An' thy auld hide as white's a daisie,
I've seen thee dappl't, sleek an' glaizie,
A bonie gray:

He should been tight that daur't to raize1 thee,
Ance in a day.

Thou ance was i' the foremost rank,
A filly buirdly, steeve an' swank';
An' set weel down a shapely shank,
As e'er tread yird*;
An' could hae flown out-owre a stank,'
Like ony bird.

It's now some nine-an'-twenty year,
Sin' thou was my guid-father's mear";

He gied me thee, o' tocher" clear,

Tho' it was sma',

bhandful.

young deer.

An' fifty mark;
'twas weel-won gear,

An' thou was stark."

• belly.

g lea.

■ dowry.

J stalwart, firm and supple.

m mare.

d hollow-backed. h dull.

✰ trod ground.

• strong.

1 Written early in 1786 "in the New Year."

THE AULD FARMER

When first I gaed to woo my Jenny,
Ye then was trotting wi' your minnie":
Tho' ye was trickie, slee, an' funnie,

Ye ne'er was donsie b;
But hamely, tawie, quiet, an' cannie,
An' unco sonsie.d

That day, ye pranc'd wi' muckle pride,
When ye bure hame my bonie bride:
An' sweet an' gracefu' she did ride,
Wi' maiden air!

Kyle-Stewart I could bragged wide
For sic a pair.

Tho' now ye dow but hoyte and hobble,
An' wintle like a saumont coble,
That day, ye was a jinker1 noble,

For heels an' win'!

An' ran them till they a' did wauble,1
Far, far, behin'!

When thou an' I were young an' skeigh,'
An' stable-meals at fairs were dreigh,

How thou wad prance, and snore, an' skreigh'
An' tak the road!

Town's-bodies ran, an' stood abeigh,"

mother.

m

An' ca't thee mad.

When thou was corn't, an' I was mellow,
We took the road aye like a swallow:
At brooses thou had ne'er a fellow,
For pith an' speed;

But ev'ry tail thou pay'to them hollow,
Whare'er thou gaed.

• can but amble.

stumble. maloof.

b troublesome.
I toss about,
J high-mettled.
wedding-races.

• domesticated.

8 fishing-boat.

k wearisome.
• beat.

d nice.

h racer.

1

scream.

THE AULD FARMER

The sma', droop-rumpl't, hunter cattle
Might aiblins waur'ta thee for a brattle;"
But sax Scotch mile, thou try't their mettle,
An' gar't them whaizle :"

Nae whip nor spur, but just a wattle

O' saugh or hazel.

Thou was a noble fittie-lan',

As e'er in tug or tow was drawn !
Aft thee an' I, in aught hours' gaun,'
In guid March-weather,

Hae turn'd sax rood beside our han',

For days thegither.

Thou never braing't, an' fetch't, an' fliskit ;
But thy auld tail thou wad hae whiskit,
An' spread abreed thy weel-fill'd brisket,"
Wi' pith an' power;

Till sprittie knowes wad rair't an' riskiti
An' slypet' owre.

When frosts lay lang, an' snaws were deep,
An' threaten'd labour back to keep,

I gied thy cog a wee bit heap

Aboon the timmer:

For that, or simmer.

I ken'd my Maggie wad na sleep,

In cart or car thou never reestit ;1

The steyest brae thou wad hae fac't it;

Thou never lap, an'

But just thy step a

perhaps have beaten.

sten't," and breastit,
Then stood to blaw;
wee thing hastit,

Thou snoov't° awa.

b short race.

e wheeze.

⚫the near horse of the hindmost pair in the plough.
dashed forward, and pulled by fits, and fretted.
tough-rooted hillocks would have sounded and cracked.

corn-measure.

leapt and reared.

1 wert restive.

• shoved.

d willow.

f going. b breast.

I slid gently. m steepest slope

THE AULD FARMER

My pleugh is now thy bairn-timeb a',
Four gallant brutes as e'er did draw;
Forbye sax mae I've sell't awa,

That thou hast nurst:

They drew me thretteen pund an' twa,

The vera warst.

C

Mony a sair daurk we twa hae wrought,
An' wi' the weary warl' fought!

An' mony an anxious day, I thought

We wad be beat!

Yet here to crazy age we're brought,
Wi' something yet.

An' think na', my auld trusty servan',
That now perhaps thou's less deservin,
An' thy auld days may end in starvin;
For my last fow,d

A heapit stimpart, I'll reserve ane
Laid by for you.

We've worn to crazy years thegither;
We'll toyte about wi' ane anither;
Wi' tentie care I'll flit thy tether

To some hain'd rig,t

Whare ye may nobly rax' your leather,

Wi' sma' fatigue.

e eighth part of a bushel.
h reserved patch.

h

THE TWA DOGS

The Twa Dogs:1

A Tale.

"TWAS in that place o' Scotland's isle,
That bears the name o' auld King Coil,
Upon a bonie day in June,

When wearin thro' the afternoon,

Twa dogs, that were na thrang at hame,
Forgather'd ance upon a time.

The first I'll name, they ca'd him Cæsar,
Was keepit for His Honor's pleasure:
His hair, his size, his mouth, his lugs,
Shew'd he was nane o' Scotland's dogs;
But whalpit some place far abroad,
Whare sailors gang to fish for cod.

His locked, letter'd, braw brass collar
Shew'd him the gentleman an' scholar;
But though he was o' high degree,
The fient a pride nae pride had he;
But wad hae spent an hour caressin,
Ev'n wi' a tinkler-gipsy's messand:
At kirk or market, mill or smiddie,
Nae tawted tyke,e tho' e'er sae duddie,'
But he wad stan't, as glad to see him,
An' stroan'th on stanes an' hillocks wi' him.
The tither was a ploughman's collie-
A rhyming, ranting, raving billie,

Wha for his friend an' comrade had him,
And in his freaks had Luath ca'd him,

After some dog in Highland sang,2

Was made lang syne-Lord knows how lang.
He was a gash' an' faithfu' tyke,

As ever lap a sheugh or dyke.

King's Kyle in Ayrshire. • matted cur.

b busy.
'ragged.

i sagacious.

1 Luath was Burns's own dog. It was killed by the cruelty of some person undiscovered, or unnamed by Gilbert Burns.

The poem stands first in the Author's

• met.

g have stood.
j ditch.

d mongrel. h watered.

editions, having been composed about two months before the proposals for that of 1786 were issued.

2 Cuchullin's dog in Ossian's "Fingal."-R.B.