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(illegible text) the woo oft, and make fiſh and ſauce o't to my Tammy's parrich. No, no, ſaid witty Eppie, bet- ter gie' to my lord, and he'll ſtap an iron ſtick thro the guts o't, and gar' rin round afore the fire till it be roaſted: na, na, ſaid wife Willy, we'll no do that indeed, for my lord would make us a'de and gar uſ rin thro the kintry seeking maukinſ till him. It happened on a dark winter morning, that two of the wives were going to Defart to tell their fiſh, & near the road fide there happened to be a tinker's s teddered, and the poor and ſeeing the wives cam- ing with their reels, thought it was the tinkers com- ing to ſtit or move him, tell a crying, the two wives threw their fife away, and ran home like med perſons crying they had ſeen the de'il, aye the very herned de'il, and that he had spoken to them, but they did not ken what he ſaid, for it was worſe words than a Highlandman's. The whole town wan in an uproar, ſome would go with picks and ſpades to hack him n' in pieces, others would catch him in a ſtrong net, and then they could either hang or drown him. Na, na, co wife Willy, we mauna caſt out wi' him at the firſt as he's gotten the twa burden o' fiſh, he'll ables gang his wa'an no faſh nne mair ; he's o'er ſougle to be
