HARPKIN.
1
Harpkin gaed up to the hill,
And blew his horn loud and shrill,
And by came Fin.
2
'What for stand you there?' quo Fin:
'Spying the weather,' quo Harpkin.
3
'What for had you your staff on your shouther?' quo Fin:
'To haud the cauld frae me,' quo Harpkin.
4
'Little cauld will that haud frae you,' quo Fin:
'As little will it win through me,' quo Harpkin.
5
'I came by your door,' quo Fin:
'It lay in your road,' quo Harpkin.
6
'Your dog barkit at me,' quo Fin:
'It's his use and custom,' quo Harpkin.
7
'I flang a stane at him,' quo Fin:
'I'd rather it had been a bane,' quo Harpkin.
8
'Your wife's lichter,' quo Fin:
'She'll clim the brae the brichter,' quo Harpkin.
9
'Of a braw lad bairn,' quo Fin:
'There'll be the mair men for the king's wars,' quo Harpkin.
10
'There's a strae at your beard,' quo Fin:
'I'd rather it had been a thrave,' quo Harpkin.
11
'The ox is eating at it,' quo Fin:
'If the ox were i the water,' quo Harpkin.
12
'And the water were frozen,' quo Fin:
'And the smith and his fore-hammer at it,' quo Harpkin.
13
'And the smith were dead,' quo Fin:
'And another in his stead,' quo Harpkin.
14
'Giff, gaff,' quo Fin:
'Your mou's fou o draff,' quo Harpkin.
The peit (peat) in st. 3, below, as I am informed by Dr Davidson, is the wee boy's contribution to the school firing.
A.
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. lxxiv. From Galloway.
1
'O whare are ye gaun?'
Quo the fause knicht upon the road:
'I'm gaun to the scule,'
Quo the wee boy, and still he stude.
2
'What is that upon your back? ' quo etc.
'Atweel it is my bukes,' quo etc.
3
'What's that ye've got in your arm?'
'Atweel it is my peit.'
4
'Wha's aucht they sheep?'
'They are mine and my mither's.'
5
'How monie o them are mine?'
'A' they that hae blue tails.'
6
'I wiss ye were on yon tree:'
'And a gude ladder under me.'
7
'And the ladder for to break:'
'And you for to fa down.'
8
'I wiss ye were in yon sie:'
'And a gude bottom under me.'
9
'And the bottom for to break:'
'And ye to be drowned.'
B.
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiv, No xxxii.
'O whare are ye gaun?' quo the false knight,
And false, false was his rede:
'I'm gaun to the scule,' says the pretty little boy,
And still, still he stude.