Or whether it was Andrew Bell,
She did na wait on talkin

To spier that night.

XIII.

Wee Jenny to her Graunie

says,

• Will ye go wi' me, Graunie? 'I'll eat the apple* at the glass,

'I gat frae uncle Johnie:
She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt,
In wrath she was sae vap'rin,..
She notic't na, an aizle brunt
Her braw new worset apron

Out thro' that night.

XIV..

Ye little skelpie-limmer's face!
How daur you try sic sportin,
As seek the foul Thief ony place,
For him to spae your fortune:
• Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!
'Great cause ye hae to fear it;
For monie a ane has gotten a fright,
An' liv'd an' di'd deleeret

On sic a night.

XV.

2

1

Ae hairst afore the Sherra-moor,

I mind't as weel's yestreen,

* Take a candle, and go alone to a looking-glass; eat an ap ple 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

'I was a gilpey then, I'm sure
I was na past fyfteen :

• The simmer had been cauld ́an' wat,
An' stuff was unco green;
'An' ay a rantin kirn we gat,
'An' just on Halloween

It fell that night.

XVI.

* Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen,

A clever, sturdy fallow;

He's sin gat Eppie Sim wi' wean,

That liv'd in Achmacalla: 'He gat hemp seed,* I mind it weel, An' he made unco light o't; 'But monie a day was by himsel, He was sae sairly frighted.

• That vera night,'

XVII.

Then up gat fechtin Jamie Fleck,
An' he swoor by his conscience,

her) that is to be my true-love,

Steal out, unperceived, and sow a handful of hemp-seed; harrowing it with any thing you can conveniently draw after you. Repeat now and then, Hemp-seed I saw thee; hemp'seed I saw thee; and him (or ' 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 appears. Others omit the harrowing, and say, come after me, and harrow thee.'

case it simply

That he could saw hemp-seed a peck
For it was a' but nonsense:/

The auld guidman raught down the pock
An' out a handfu' gied him;

Syne bad him slip frae 'mang the folk,
Sometime when nae ane see'd' him,

Antry't that night.

XVIII.

He marches thro' amang the stacks,
Tho' he was something sturtin,
The graip he for a harrow taks,
An' haurls at his curpin:
An' ev'ry now an' then, he says,
'Hemp-seed I saw thee,

An' her that is to be my lass,

• Come after me, and draw thee,
• As fast this night.

XIX.

He whistl'd up Lord Lennox' march,

To keep his courage cheery;

Altho' his hair began to arch,

He was sae fley'd an' eerie: Till presently he hears a squeak, An' then a grane an' gruntle; He by his shouther gae a keek, An' tumbl'd wi' a wintle

Out-owre that night.

XX.

He roar'd a horrid murder-shout,,

In dreadfu' desperation !

An' young an' auld cam rinnin out.
An' hear the sad narration:

He swoor 'twas hilchin Jean McCraw,
Or crouchie Merrau Humphie,
Till stop! she trotted thro' them a'
An' wha was it but Grumphie
Asteer that night!

XXI.

Meg fain wad to the barn gaen,”
To win three wechis o naething;*
But for to meet the deil her lane,
She pat but little faith in:
She gies the herd a pickle nits,
An' twa red checkit apples,

To watch, while for the barn she sets,
In hopes to see Tam Kipples

She turns the key wi' cannie thraw,

An' owre the threshold ventures;

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, 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 recht; 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.

But first on Sawnie gies a' ca',
Syne bauldly in she enters;
A ratton rattled up the wa',

An' she cry'd, Ld preserve her!
An' ran thro': midden-hole an' a',

An' pray'd wi' zeal an' fervour,
Fu' fast that night.

XXIII.

They hoy't out Will, wi' sair advice;
They hecht him some fine braw ane;
It chanc'd the stack he faddom'd thrice,*
Was timmer propt for thrawin;
He taks a swirlie auld moss-oak,
For some black, grousome carlin;
An' loot a winze, an' drew a stroke,
Till skin in blypes came haurlin
Aff's nieves that night.

XXIV.

A wanton widow Leezie was,

As canty as a kittlen ;

But och! that night, amang the shaws,

She got a fearfu' settlin!

She thro' the whins, an' by the cairn,
An' owre the hill gaed scrievin,

Take an opportunity of going, unnoticed, to a Bear-stack, and fathom it three times round. The last fathom of the last time you will catch in your arms the appearance of your future eonjugal yoke-fellow.