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Amang the bonny winding banks,
Whar Doon rins, wimplin, clear,
Whar Bruce[1] ance rul'd the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, countra focks,
Together did conveen,
To burn their nits, and pou their stecks,
To haud their Hallowe'en,
Fu' blythe that night.

The lasses feat, and cleanly neat,
Mair braw than when they're fine;
Their faces blythe, fu' sweetly kythe;
Hearts leal and warm, and kin';
The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their gartin,
Some unco blate, and some wi' gabs,
Gar lasses' hearts gang startin,
Whyles fast that night.

Then, first and foremost, thro' the kail,
Their stocks[2] maun a' be sought ance;

  1. The famous family of that name, the ancestors of Robert, the great Deliverer of his country, were Earls of Carrick.
  2. The first ceremony of Hallowe'en is pulling each a stock or plant of Kail. They must go out hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with; its being big or little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their spells—the husband or wife. If any yird, or earth, stick to the root, that is tocher, or fortune; and the taste of the castock, that is, the heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and disposition.—