J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

FIRESIDE NURSERY STORIES. 221 1
wi' ivory, and gold, and silver, and dymonts, and what not. i
I dinna ken what spring- the fairy played, but this I ken
weel, that Wullie had nae g-reat g'oo o' his performance ; so '
he sits thinkin' to himsel' — " This maun be a deil's g-et ; and
I ken weel hoo to treat them ; and gin I while the time awa',
Auld Waughorn himsel' may come to rock his son's cradle, \
and play me some foul prank ; " so he catches the bairn by ■
the cuff o' the neck, and whupt him into the fire, bagpipes <
and a' ! ;
^FuiF' — [this pronounced with great emphasis, and a I
pause]. i
' Awa' flees the fairy, skirling, " Deil stick the lousie '
tylor !" a' the way up the lum.' ^ r^/ / y
WHUPPITY STOORIE. /m . \
[As narrated by the same Nurse Jenny.] ^
'I ken ye're fond o' clashes aboot fairies, bairns; and a J^] i/^c,
story anent a fairy and the guidwife o' Kittlerumpit has ^ ^ ^ '
joost come into my mind ; but I canna very weel tell ye noo ^ ^^^ \
whereabouts Kittlerumpit lies. I think it's somewhere in f^ \f~y
amang the Debateable Grund ; onyg'ate I'se no pretend to /> ^ aj j
mair than I ken, like a' body noo-a-days. I wuss they ut/y^criut ' \
wad mind the ballant we used to lilt langsyne — ;
" Mony ane sings the gerss, the gerss, '
And mony ane sings the corn ; ''
And mony ane clatters o' bold Robin Hood, I
Ne'er kent where he was born." •
But hoosoever, aboot Kittlerumpit : the goodman was a [
vaguing sort o' a body ; and he gaed to a fair ae day, and \
not only never came hame again, but never mair was \
heard o'. Some said he listed, and ither some that the ,
wearifu' pressgang cleekit him up, though he was clothed wi' I
a wife and a wean forbye. Hech-how ! that dulefu' press- i
gang ! they gaed aboot the kintra like roaring lions, seek-
ing whom they micht devoor. I mind weel, my auldest '■>
brither Sandy was a' but smoored in the meal ark hiding
frae thae limmers. After they war gane, we pu'd him cot :
frae amang the meal, pechin' and greetin', and as white as
ony Corp. My mither had to pike the meal oot o' his mooth ,
wi' the shank o' a horn spoon. \
' Aweel, when the goodman o' Kittlerumpit was gane,
the goodwife was left wi' a sma' fendin. Little gear had ;