Robin shure in hairst.
[This is the name of an old song and tune. The old words, however, are very coarse, and Burns altered them as follows for Johnson's Museum, applying them to himself in the character of a poet. The tune is sometimes erroneously called "Bobbing John."]
Robin shure in hairst;
I shure wi' him:
Fient a heuk had I,
Yet I stack by him.
I gaed up to Dunse,
To warp a wab o' plaidin';
At his daddie's yet,
Wha met me but Robin?
Wasna Robin bauld,
Though he was a cottar,
Played me sic a trick,
And me the eller's doohter!
Robin promised me
A' my winter's vittle;
Fient haet he had but three
Guse feathers and a whittle!