Broadside ballad entitled 'Donald Blue'

Transcription

DONALD BLUE.

MY names Donald Blue, you keu me fu' we'll
And if you be civil I'm a civel chiel,
But if you pu' my board, I'm as rough as the de'il,
If I get a claw at your noddle.

I am kent through the country far and near,
At births and at burials you'll find me there ;
When the body's meet for to ha'd the New Year.
I am the first man in the mornidg

It's true I maun confess, often limes I have been vext,
To see drunken mothers gie the little anes their licks.
When they cry for a piece, de'il a hit 'ill cross their lips,
For she has been drinking since the morning.

I'1l tell you a trick I played in the south,
A smith had a wife she was troubled wi' a drouth,
She liked me so well, she put so muckle in her mouth,
She was often carried home in the morning.

She'll gang to her bed when her man's coming home,
She'll swear he is drunk though a drap's no in his wame,
But if it was well measured there's a pint in her ain,
For she has been drinking since morning.

The smith he was throng at the shoeing of a horse,
The folk cries smith your wife's at the cross,
He lifted up the hammer and struck wi' sic a fury,
He meast knocked doon the smicdy wi' a fury.

He ran up the street wi' the hammer in his hand,
He saw his wife lying wi' drink could'na gang,
He took her in his arms, and up the street he ran,
And he flung her in the bed in a fury.

He locked the door, took the key in his hand,
He comes down stairs, saying O ! bewitchod man ;
The conduct of a woman I am no fit to stand,
I would list to be a soldier in the morning.

He joined to his work, he was shoeing a horse,
The folk cries smith, your wife's lying at the cross,
Still they kept crying, tak' her iu frae the snow,
Or she will perish in the morning.

The de'ils in the folk what do they mean ava,
If I hae got a drunken wife, I'm no needing twa ;
Still they cried tak' her in frae the snow,
Or else she will perish in the morning.

He ran up the street and he viewed her a' round,
Upon my sooth it is her, how the de'il bas she got roan';
Ance mair agaiu he hoisted her to her room,
Where the ither ane was lying snoring.

Unto his great surprise ho couldan ken' which was his,
Frae the head to the feet they were dressed in one piece ;
They both resembled ither sae muckle in the face,
He coud'na tell which was his Jenny.

De'il care quoth he, we will let them baith lie still,
When they sleep themselves sober,she'll surely ken hereel
From that day to this day she never drumlie gied,
Nor was ever carried hame in the, morning.

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