J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

282 POPULAR RHYMES OF SCOTLAND.
Said to people yawning —
Them that gant,
Something want —
Sleep, meat, or makin' o'.
An obtestation on confirming a bargain —
I dapse ye, I dapse ye,
I double double dapse ye ;
If ye're found to tell a lie,
Your right hand aff ye !
To secure a fair start in a race —
' Are you saddled ?' < Yes.'
* Are you bridled ? ' ' Yes.'
' Are you ready for the ca' ? ' * Yes.'
* AflF and awa ! '
A rhyme on numbers, said very fast — ;
Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen.
Fourteen, thirteen, twelve.
Eleven, ten, nine,
Eight, seven, six.
Five, four, three,
The tenor o' the tune plays menilie.
A jocular vituperation of boys named David — •
Davie Doytes, the Laird o' Loytes,
Fell owre the mortar stane,
A' the lave got butter and bread.
But Davie Doytes got nane.
In Cockelhifs Soiv, a strange rude Scottish poem of the end
of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century,
* Davie Doytes ' is alluded to as a minstrel —
' Besyde, thair capitane, I trow,
Callit wes Colyne Cuckow ;
And Davie Boyte of the dale
Was thair mad menstrale :
He blew on a pj-pe he
Maid of the borit bourtre.'
It is very curious thus to trace a piece of childish nonsense
through a long succession of centuries.