J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

MISCELLANEOUS RHYMES. 315
to take his shadow instead of himself, it being- the object last
behind, the devil was caug-ht by the ruse, and was content
to seize the shadow instead of the substance. It was after-
wards remarked that Sir James never had a shadow, and
that he usually walked in the shade to hide this defect. Sir
James is also remembered as a griping* oppressor of the
poor, which g-ave rise to the following* lines, and occasion
to his enemies secretly to injure his property : —
The Lau'd of Pittarro, his heart was sae narrow,
He wadna let the kaes* pike his corn stack ;
But by there came knaves, and pikit up thraives,
And what said the Laird of Pittarro to that ! '
Note to Lamoifs Diary, sicb. 1660.
THE AULD man's KYE.
There was an auld man stood on a stane,
Awa' i' the craft, liis leefu' lane,
And cried on his bonny sleek kye to come hame.
* Eatty my mailly, and Kitty her mother,
Kitty my doo, and Kitty Billswither,
Eanglety, Spanglety, Crook, and Cowdry ! '
And these were the names o' the auld man's kye.f
SINGULAR GRACE.
God bless King William and Queen Mary,
Lord Strathmore and the Earl o' Airly,
The Laird o' Banff and Little Charlie.
It is said that at a meeting- in Stirling- Castle of some of
the principal leaders of the Jacobite faction, an awkward
dispute arose, when dinner was on the table, as to who
should say grace. The person who sat at the head of
the table pitched upon his next neighbour, who, in his
turn, deputed the honour to him who sat next again;
and so on, till every one present declined the office. In
this dilemma the Earl of Airly arose, and signified to the
company that he was sure that his footman was competent
for the task. The man was accordingly called, and ordered
to ask a blessing, when, as if to confound all party-spirit
in their breasts, he produced this poetical and most liberal
benediction, which was highly applauded by all present.
* The rooks. t M'Taggart's Gallovidian Encyclopasdia.