“What does he mean by the tyrant and his long neb?”
“Aha! But that’s mair nor ever I could find out yet. We whiles think he means the Kelpy—him that raises the storms an’ the floods on us, ye ken, and gars the waters an’ the burns come roarin down wi’ bracks o’ ice an’ snaw, an’ tak away our sheep. But whether it’s Kelpy, or Clavers, or the Deil, we can never be sure, for we think it applies gay an’ weel to them a’.”
“Repeat the passage as well as you can.”
“Bring down the tyrant an’ his lang neb, for he has done muckle ill this year, and gie him a cup o’ thy wrath; an’ gin he winna tak that, gie him kelty.”
“What is meant by kelty?”
“That’s double—it means twa cups—ony body kens that.”
“Does he ever mention the king in his prayer?”
“O yes: always.”
“What does he say about him?”
“Something about the sceptre of righteousness, and the standard of truth. I ken he has some rhyme about him.”