"With ruefow cries, that rend the skies,
"Thair fate I seem to mourn,
"Like crocodile, on banks of Nile;
"For I still do the turn.
"Douce, cautious men aft fey are seen;
"Thai rin as thai war heyrt,
"Despise all reid, and court their deid:
"By me are thai inspir't.
"Yestreen the water was in spate,
"The stanners aw war cur'd:
"A man, nae stranger to the gate,
"Raid up to tak the ford.
"The haill town sware it wadna ride;
"And Kelpie had been heard:
"But nae a gliffin wad he bide,
"His shroud I had prepar'd.
"The human schaip I sumtimes aip:
"As Prosenhaugh raid haim,
"Ae starnless nicht, he gat a fricht,
"Maist crack't his bustuous frame.
"I, in a glint, lap on ahint,
"And in my arms him fangit;
"To his dore-cheik I keipt the cleik:
"The carle was sair bemangit.
"My name itsell wirks like a spell,
"And quiet the house can keep;
"Quhan greits the wean, the nurse in vain,
"Thoch tyke-tyrit, tries to sleip.
"But gin scho say, 'Lie still, ye skrae,
"There's Water-Kelpie's chap;'
"It's fleyit to wink, and in a blink
"It sleips as sound's a tap."
He said, and thrice he rais't his voice,
And gaif a horrid gowl:
Thrice with his tail, as with a flail,
He struck the flying pool.
A thunderclap seem't ilka wap,
Resoundin' throw the wude:
The fire thrice flash't; syne in he plash't,
And sunk beneath the flude.
NOTES
ON
WATER KELPIE.
The fisher's houp forgat to loup.—P. [385]. v. 2.
The fishes, the hope of the angler, no more rose to the fly.