Scottish Text Society publications > Old series > Poems of Alexander Montgomerie

THE FLYTING OF MONTGOMERIE AND POLWART. 159
[harleian
Ay reaving and raigne in rood raterrymes.
All ill be thow vftand, and ay in excese.
like moone be thow madd, Fra past be the prymes;
Still plagued with povertie, thy pryd to oppresse.
With warwoolffs and wild cates thy weird be to wander; 360
Draiglit throw durtie dubb«r & dik^j;
Tousled and tugled with toun tykes.
Say, lowsie lyar, quAat thow lyker;
Thy tongue is no sclander.”
Fra the sisters had sene the schaip of that sheitte, 365
“ Littill lucke [be] thy lote, ther quhare thow lyes.
Thy froward face,” quoth the first, “ to flytte shall be fitt.”
“ Nieniren,” quoth the nixt, “ shall nurish the twyfte;
To ryd post to Elphin non ableer nor it.”
“To dryve dogger out1 of dirt,” the third can devise : 370
“ All thy dayes schall thow be bot of thy bodie a bitt.
Als suith is this sentenc, as scharp is the sysse.”
Syne dewly the] demannd, quAat deith it should dy.
The first said, “ surlie of a schoote ” ;
The secund, “ of a runing knotte ”; 375
The thrid, “ be the throuing of his throat,
Lyk a tyk over a tree.”
Quhen the weirdsisterer had thus voted, all in a voice,
The deid of the dablet, and syne then withdrew ;
To lett it ly all alane, the] thoo^t it litle losse, 380
In a den by a dyk, or the day dew.
Then a cleere companje and soone after closse,
Nieniren with her Nimphw, in number anew,
With charmes from caitnes and chanrie of Rosse,
F.27b. Whois cuning consists in casting of a clewe ; 385
They seing this sarrie thing, said to themselves :
1 Interlined, and might be ‘but.’