The Canongate Burns (25 page)

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Authors: Robert Burns

BOOK: The Canongate Burns
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He whistl'd up
Lord Lenox' March
,

          To keep his courage cheery;

165
Altho' his hair began to arch,
stand with fear

          He was sae fley'd an' eerie;
so frightened

Till presently he hears a squeak,

          An' then a grane an' gruntle;
groan, grunt

He by his shouther gae a keek,
shoulder gives, look

170
          An' tumbl'd wi' a wintle
somersault

                                        Out-owre that night.
over

He roar'd a horrid murder-shout,

          In dreadfu' desperation!

An' young an' auld come rinnan out,
old, running

175
          An' hear the sad narration:

He swoor ‘twas hilchin
Jean M'Craw
,
halting

          Or crouchie
Merran Humphie
—
hunchback

Till stop! she trotted thro' them a';

          An' wha was it but Grumphie
who, the pig

180
                         Asteer that night?
moving about

Meg
fain wad to the Barn gaen,
content, would have gone

          To
winn three wechts o' naething
;
11
dry corn, baskets, nothing

But for to meet the Deil her lane,
all alone

          She pat but little faith in:
put

185
She gies the herd a pickle nits,
gives, shepherd, few

          An' twa red-cheeket apples,
two, -cheeked

To watch, while for the
Barn
she sets,
goes

          In hopes to see
Tam Kipples

                              That vera night.
very

190
She turns the key wi' cannie thraw,
gentle, twist

          An' owre the threshold ventures;
over

But first on
Sawnie
gies a ca',
Satan, gives, call

          Syne bauldly in she enters:
once boldly

A ratton
rattl'd up the wa',
rat, wall

195
          An' she cry'd, Lord preserve her!

An' ran thro' midden-hole an' a',
dung-hole

          An' pray'd wi' zeal and fervour

                              Fu' fast that night.

They hoy't out
Will
, wi' sair advice;
urged, sore

200
          They hecht him some fine braw ane;
promised, fine one

It chane'd the
Stack
he
faddom't thrice
,
12
fathomed

          Was timmer-propt for thrawin:
wood stacked, support

He taks a swirlie, auld
moss-oak
twisted, old

          For some black gruesome Carlin;
old hag

205
An' loot a winze, an' drew a stroke,
cursed, swiped

          Till skin in blypes cam haurlin
shreds, peeling

                              Aff's nieves that night.
off his fists

A wanton widow
Leezie
was,

          As cantie as a kittlen;
lively, kitten

210
But Och! that night, amang the shaws,
among, large leaves & branches

          She gat a fearfu' settlin!
got, severely unsettled

She thro' the whins, an' by the cairn,
gorse bushes

          An' owre the hill gaed scrievin;
over, went careering

Whare
three Lairds' lands met at a burn
,
13
where

215
          To dip her
left sark-sleeve
in
shirt-

                                        Was bent that night.

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
whiles over, waterfall, burns falls

          As thro' the glen it wimpl't;
meandered

Wyles round a rocky scaur it strays,
jutting rocky edge

220
          Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't;
whiles eddy

Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
reflected

          Wi' bickerin, dancin dazzle;
running fast

Whyles cookit underneath the braes,
whiles hid

          Below the spreading hazel

225
                           Unseen that night.

Amang the brachens, on the brae,
ferns, hillside

          Between her an' the moon,

The Deil, or else an outler Quey,
stray young cow

          Gat up an' gae a croon:
got, gave, moan

230
Poor
Leezie's
heart maist lap the hool;
almost leaped, sheath

          Near lav'rock-height she jumpet,
lark-flying level, jumped

But mist a fit, an' in the
pool
missed a foot

          Out-owre the lugs she plumpet
-over, ears, plummeted

                              Wi' a plunge that night.

235
In order, on the clean hearth-stane,
-stone

          The
Luggies
14
three are ranged;
dishes

And ev'ry time great care is taen
taken

          To see them duly changed:

Auld uncle
John
, wha
wedlock's joys
,
old, who

240
          Sin
Mar's-year
15
did desire,
since

Because he gat the toom dish thrice,
got, empty

          He heav'd them on the fire

                                   In wrath that night.

Wi' merry sangs, an' friendly cracks,
songs, conversation

245
    I wat they did na weary;
know, not

And unco tales, an' funnie jokes,
wondrous

              Their sports were cheap an' cheary:

Till
butter'd Sow'ns
,
16
wi' fragrant lunt,
sour oat pudding, steam

          Set a' their gabs a-steerin;
tongues, wagging

250
Syne, wi' a social glass o' strunt,
whisky

          They parted aff careerin
off/away

                                      Fu' blythe that night.

Mackay's edition omits the poet's detailed notes to this work. They serve to assist the general reader in understanding the superstitious rural beliefs associated with Halloween. Due to the broad Scots language of the poem and its description of various superstitious rituals associated with peasant belief, much of the poem is unintelligible without the poet's notes as in the Kilmarnock edition. Kinsley (no. 73) gives the notes but without indicating that they are Burns's. The prose explanations of Burns reveal another example of his extraordinary talent for turning prose into poetry within the body of
Halloween
.

1
Cassilis Downans – Certain little, romantic, rocky, green hills, in the neighbourhood of the ancient seat of the Earls of Cassilis. R.B.

2
A noted cavern near Colean [Culzean] House, called the Cove of Colean; which, as well as Cassilis Downans, is famed, in country story, for being a favourite haunt of the fairies. R.B.

3
The famous family of that name, the ancestors of ROBERT, the great Deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick. R. B.

4
The first ceremony of Halloween, is, pulling each a Stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with: its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their Spells – the husband or wife. If any
yird
, or earth, stick to the root, that is
tocher
, or fortune; and the taste of the
custoc
, that is, the heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and disposition. Lastly, the stems, or to give them their ordinary appellation, the
runts
, are placed somewhere above the head of the door; and the Christian names of the people whom chance brings into the house, are, according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question. R.B.

5
They go to the barnyard, and pull each, at three several times, a stalk of oats. If the third stalk wants the ‘top-pickle', that is, the grain at the top of the stalk, the party in question will come to the marriage bed anything but a Maid. R.B.

6
When the corn is in a doubtful state, by being too green or wet, the stack- builder, by means of old timber, &c., makes a large apartment in his stack, with an opening in the side which is fairest exposed to the wind: this he calls a ‘
Fause-house
'. R.B.

7
Burning the nuts is a favourite charm. They name the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire, and acccordingly as they burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the Courtship will be. R.B.

8
Whoever would, with success, try this spell must strictly observe these directions: Steal out all alone, to the kiln, and, darkling, throw into the pot a clew of blue yarn; wind it in a new clew off the old one; and, towards the latter end, something will hold the thread: demand
Wha hauds?
, i.e. Who holds? And answer will be returned from the kiln-pot, by naming the Christian and Sirname of your future Spouse. R.B.

9
Take a candle and go alone to a looking glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say, you should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjugal companion,
to be
, will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder. R.B. 

10
Steal out unperceived and sow a handful of hemp-seed, harrowing it with anything you can conveniently draw after you. Repeat, now and then – ‘Hemp-seed I saw [sow] thee, hemp-seed I saw thee; and him (or her) that is to be my true love, come after me and pou thee'. Look over your left shoulder, and you will see the appearance of the person invoked, in the attitude of pulling hemp. Some traditions say, ‘Come after me, and shaw thee', that is, show thyself; in which case, it simply appears. Others omit the harrowing, and say, ‘Come after me, and harrow thee.' R.B.

11
This charm must likewise be performed unperceived and alone. You go to the barn, and open both doors, taking them off the hinges if possible; for there is danger that the being that is about to appear may shut the doors, and do you some mischief. Then take that instrument used in winnowing the corn, which in our country-dialect we call a ‘wecht', and go through all the attitudes of letting down corn against the wind. Repeat it three times, and the third time, an apparition will pass through the barn, in at the windy door, and out at the other, having both the figure in question, and the appearance or retinue, marking the employment or station in life. R.B.

12
Take an opportunity of going, unnoticed, to a ‘bear-stack' [stack of bere or bigg, a kind of barley] and fathom it three times round. The last fathom of the last time, you will catch in your arms the appearance of your future conjugal yolk-fellow. R.B.

13
You go out, one or more, for this is a social spell, to a south-running spring, or rivulet, where ‘three Lairds' lands' meet, and dip your left shirt- sleeve. Go to bed in sight of a fire, and hang your wet sleeve before it to dry. Ly awake, and sometime near midnight, an apparition, having the exact figure of the grand object in question, will come and turn the sleeve, as if to dry the other side of it. R.B.

14
Take three dishes, put clean water in one, foul water in another, leave the third empty; blindfold a person and lead him to the hearth where the dishes are ranged; he (or she) dips the left hand: if by chance in the clean water, the future husband (or wife) will come to the bar of Matrimony a Maid; if in the foul, a widow; if in the empty dish, it foretells with equal certainty, no marriage at all. It is repeated three times, and every time the arrangement of the dishes is altered. R.B.

15
Mar's-year: This was the year 1715, when the 11th Earl of Mar, John Erskine (1675–1732) spear-headed the Jacobite revolt to proclaim the Stuart Pretender King.

16
Sowens, with butter instead of milk, to them, is always the Halloween
Supper. R.B.

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