Page:Humorous poems.pdf/13

13

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
As through the glen it wimpled;
Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;
Whyles in a wiel it dimpled;
Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
Whyles cockit underneath the braes,
Below the spreading hazel,
Unseen that night.

Amang the branches, on the brae,
Between her and the moon,
The deil, or else some outler quey,
Gat up, and gae a croon:
Puir Leezie's heart maist lap the hool;
Near laverock-height she jumpit;
But mist a fit, and in the pool,
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,
Wi' a plunge that night

In order, on the clean hearthstane,
The luggies three^[1] are ranged;

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exact figure of the grand object in question, will come and turn the sleeve, as if to dry the other side of it.

1. Take three dishes, put clean water in one, foul water in another, and leave the third empty; blindfold a person, and lead him to the hearth, where the dishes are ranged; he or she dips the left land: if, by chance, in the clean water, the future husband or wife will come to the bar of matrimony a maid; if in the foul, a widow; if in the empty dish, it foretells, with equal certainty, no marriage at all. It is repeated three times; and every time the arrangement of the dishes is altered.