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1 Grinding time.

That frae November till October,
Ae market day thou was nae sober;
That ilka melder,' wi' the miller,
Thou sat as lang as thou had siller;
That every naig was ca'd a shoe on,
The smith and thee gat roaring fou on;
That at the Lord's house, ev'n on Sunday,
Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday
She prophesied that, late or soon,
Thou wad be found deep drowned in Doon;
Or catched wi' warlocks in the mirk,3
By Alloway's old haunted kirk.

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Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet,
To think how mony counsels sweet,
How mony lengthened, sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises!

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But to our tale: Ae market night,
Tam had got planted unco right,
Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely,
Wi' reaming swats, that drank divinely;
And at his elbow, Souter' Johnie,
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony;
Tam lo'd him like a vera brither;
They had been fou for weeks thegither.
The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter;
And ay the ale was growing better:
The landlady and Tam grew gracious,
Wi' favors, secret, sweet, and precious:
The souter tauld his queerest stories;
The landlord's laugh was ready chorus:
The storm without might rair and rustle,
Tam didna mind the storm a whistle.

Care, mad to see a man sae happy,
E'en drowned himsel amang the nappy:
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,
The minutes winged their way wi' pleasure;
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious!

But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow-fall in the river,
A moment white - then melts forever;
Or like the borealis race,

That flit ere you can point their place;

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Or like the rainbow's lovely form,
Evanishing amid the storm.

Nae man can tether time or tide;

The hour approaches Tam maun ride;

That hour, o' night's black arch the keystane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;

And sic a night he takes the road in,
As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in.

The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last;
The rattling show'rs rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed;
Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellowed:
That night, a child might understand,
The Deil had business on his hand.

Weel mounted on his gray mare, Meg, —

A better never lifted leg,

Tam skelpit on thro' dub and mire,
Despising wind, and rain, and fire;

Whiles holding fast his gude blue bonnet;

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Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet;
Whiles glow'ring round wi' prudent cares,
Lest boggles catch him unawares;
Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh,
Where ghaists and houlets nightly cry.
By this time he was cross the ford,
Where in the snaw the chapman smoored;"
And past the birks and meikle stane,
Where drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane;
And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,
Where hunters fand the murdered bairn;
And near the thorn, aboon the well,
Where Mungo's mither hanged hersel.
Before him Doon pours all his floods;
The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;
The lightnings flash from pole to pole;
Near and more near the thunders roll:
When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,
Kirk-Alloway seemed in a bleeze;

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Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing;
And loud resounded mirth and dancing.

Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil;

Wi' usquebae,' we'll face the devil!

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The swats sae reamed in Tammie's noddle,
Fair play, he caredna deils a boddle.1
But Maggie stood right sair astonished,
Till, by the heel and hand admonished,
She ventured forward on the light;
And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight!
Warlocks and witches in a dance;
Nae cotillion brent-new frae France,
But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,
Put life and mettle in their heels.
A winnock bunker2 in the east,

There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast;

A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,
To gie them music was his charge:

He screwed the pipes and gart' them skirl,"
Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.
Coffins stood round like open presses,
That shawed the dead in their last dresses;
And by some devilish cantrip slight
Each in its cauld hand held a light, -
By which heroic Tam was able

To note upon the haly table,

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--

A murderer's banes in gibbet airns;"

Twa span-lang, wee, unchristened bairns;
A thief, new-cutted frae the rape,
Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape;
Five tomahawks, wi' blude red rusted;
Five scymitars, wi' murder crusted;
A garter, which a babe had strangled;
A knife, a father's throat had mangled,
Whom his ain son o' life bereft,
The gray hairs yet stack to the heft;
Wi' mair o' horrible and awfu',

Which ev'n to name wad be unlawfu'.

As Tammie glowred, amazed and curious,
The mirth and fun grew fast and furious:

The piper loud and louder blew;

The dancers quick and quicker flew ;

They reeled, they set, they crossed, they cleekit,"

Till ilka carlin swat and reekit,

And coost 10 her duddies to the wark,

And linket at it in her sark!"

Now Tam, O Tam! had thae been queans,

A' plump and strapping in their teens;

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Their sarks, instead o' creeshie1 flannen,
Been snaw-white seventeen-hunder linen!
Thir breeks o' mine, my only pair,

That ance were plush, o' gude blue hair,
I wad hae gi'en them off my hurdies,"
For ae blink o' the bonie burdies!

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But withered beldams, auld and droll,
Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal,
Lowping and flinging on a crummock,
I wonder didna turn thy stomach.

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But Tam kend what was what fu' brawlie:
There was ae winsome wench and walie,'

That night enlisted in the core,

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(Lang after kend on Carrick shore;
For mony a beast to dead she shot,
And perished mony a bonie boat,
And shook baith meikle corn and bear,
And kept the country side in fear,)
Her cutty sark, o' Paisley harn,10
That while a lassie she had worn,
In longitude tho' sorely scanty,
It was her best, and she was vauntie.
Ah! little kend thy reverend grannie,
That sark she coft" for her wee Nannie,
Wi' twa pund Scots 12 ('twas a' her riches),
Wad ever graced a dance of witches!

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But here my muse her wing maun cour;
Sic flights are far beyond her power;
To sing how Nannie lap and flang,
(A souple jade she was, and strang,)
And how Tam stood, like ane bewitched,
And thought his very een enriched;

Even Satan glowred, and fidged fu' fain,

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And hotched and blew wi' might and main:

Till first ae caper, syne anither,

Tam tint 15 his reason a'thegither,

And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!"

And in an instant all was dark:

And scarcely had he Maggie rallied,

When out the hellish legion sallied.
As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke,"
When plundering herds assail their byke;"

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4 Rope-harness = unshapely.

7 Beautiful. 8 Barley.

12 Two shillings English.

16 Bustle. 17 Hive.

• Short.

18 Droop.

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As open pussie's mortal foes,

When, pop! she starts before their nose;
As eager runs the market crowd,

When, "Catch the thief!" resounds aloud;
So Maggie runs, the witches follow,

Wi' monie an eldritch skreech and hollow.

Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin!'
In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin!

In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin!
Kate soon will be a woefu' woman!
Now do thy speedy utmost, Meg,
And win the keystane of the brig:
There at them thou thy tail may toss,
A running stream they darena cross.
But ere the keystane she could make,
The fient a tail she had to shake!
For Nannie, far before the rest,
Hard upon noble Maggie prest,
And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle;
But little wist she Maggie's mettle-
Ae spring brought off her master hale,*
But left behind her ain gray tail:
The carlin claught her by the rump,
And left poor Maggie scarce a stump.

Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read,
Ilk man and mother's son, take heed:
Whene'er to drink you are inclined,
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear
Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare.

TO A MOUSE, ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST, WITH THE
PLOW, NOVEMBER, 1785.

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie !

Thou needna start awa sae hasty,

Wi' bickerin' brattle!"

I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'rin' pattle!"

I'm truly sorry man's dominion

Has broken Nature's social union,

An' justifies that ill opinion

Which makes thee startle

1 Present bought at a fair.

2 Devil.
8 Aim. 4 Whole.
Plough-cleaning stick.

5 Scamper.

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