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.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] At the last moment I come upon this: "The only safeguard against the malice of witches is 'to flight wi dem,' that is, draw them into a controversy and scold them roundly:" (Mrs Saxby, in an interesting contribution of folk-lore from Unst, Shetland, in The Leisure Hour, for March 27, 1880, p. 199.) This view, which has apparently affected 'Harpkin,' is clearly a modern misunderstanding. Let no one trust to scolding for foiling a witch, unless he "knows more words."