J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

44 POPULAR RHYMES OF SCOTLAND.
On Tintock-Tap there is a mist,
And in that mist there is a kist.
And in the kist there is a caup,
And in the caup there is a drap ;
Tak up the caup, drink aff the drap.
And set the caup on Tintock-Tap.
Tintock may be called a very popular mountain ; and this
chiefly arises from its standing- almost alone in the midst of
a country generally level. On the summit is an immense
accumulation of stones, said to have been brought thither at
different times from the vale (distance three Scotch miles)
by the country people, upon whom the task was enjoined
as a penance by the priests of St John's Kirk, which was
situated in a little glen at the north-east skirt of the moun-
tain, though no vestige of its existence now remains except
the burying-ground. The summit of Tintock is often enve-
loped in mist ; and the ' kist' mentioned in the rhyme was
perhaps a large stone, remarkable over the rest of the heap
for having a hole in its upper side, which the country
people say was formed by the grasp of Sir William AVal-
lace's thumb, on the evening previous to his defeating the
English at Boghall, in the neighbourhood. The hole is
generally full of water, on account of the drizzling nature
of the atmosphere ; but if it is meant by the ' caup ' men-
tioned, we must suppose that the whole is intended as a
mockery of human strength ; for it is certainly impossible
to lift the stone and drink off the contents of the hollow.
PLACES IN THE XEIGHBOUKHOOD OF WHITBURN.
The lang Flints o' A^^iitburn,
And Teunants i' the Inch ;
John Maccall o' Bathgate
Sits upon liis bench.
Tarryauban, Tarrybane,
Tarbane hills and sca't yauds,
Easter "Whitburn's assy pets,*
And Wester Whitburn's braw lads.
The Duke i' the Head,
The Drake o' the Reeve,
The Laird o' Craigmalloch and Birnieton ha',
* Ashy peats.