J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

144 POPULAR RHYMES OF SCOTLAND.
In an ancient Romish calendar, to which frequent refer-
ence is made in Brand's Popular Antiquities, there is an ob-
scure allusion to these Borrowing- Days, under 31st March :
it is to the following: effect — ' A rustic fable concerning" the
nature of the month : the rustic names of six days which
shall follow in April, or may he the last of March.'' So
strong was this superstition in the seventeenth century, that
when the Covenanting- army under Montrose marched into
Aberdeen on the 30th March 1639, and was favoured by
g-ood weather, a minister pointed it out in his sermon as a
miraculous dispensation of Providence in behalf of the
good cause. — {Gordon of Hothiemay's History of Scots
Affairs from 1637 to 1641, ii. 226.) Sir Thomas Browne
says {Vulgar Errors), ' so it is usual among us .... to
ascribe unto March certain borrowed days from April ....
which men seem to believe upon annual experience of their
own and the received traditions of their forefathers.'
The most common rhyme on this subject, in Scotland,
goes thus : —
March borrowed from April
Thi-ee days, and they were ill :
The fii'st o' tliem was wind and weet,
The second o' them was snaw and sleet,
The third o' them was sic a freeze,
It froze the bu-ds' nebs to the trees.
A Stirlingshire version is more dramatic, and gives the
name of one of the months in nearly the original French : —
March said to Averil,
' I see thi-ee hoggs on yonder hill ;
And if you'll lend me dayis three,
I'll find a way to gar them die ! '
The first o' them was wind and weet.
The second o' them was snaw and sleet,
The third o' them was sic a freeze,
It froze the birds' feet to the trees.
When the thi-ee days were past and gane,
The silly poor hoggs came hu-pling hame.
What could have inspired March with so deadly a design
against the three sheep, is one of those profound questions
which only can be solved by the cottage fireside, ' between
gloaming and supper time.' Certes, however, the three last
days of March are still occasionally observed to be of the