Selections from Five English Poets Part 8

[6.] Trains o' craws, trains of crows.

[7.] Moil, toil.

[8.] Mattocks, implements for digging.

[9.] The morn, to-morrow.

[10.] Hameward, homeward.

[11.] Stacher, totter.

[12.] Flichterin', fluttering.

[13.] Ingle, fireplace.

[14.] Bonilie, cheerfully, attractively.

[15.] Hearth-stane, hearth-stone.

[16.] Does a' his weary kiaugh and care beguile, Does all his weary cark (fret) and care beguile. _A'_ has the sound of _a_ in _all_; p.r.o.nounce _kiaugh_ something like _kee-owch'_, giving the _ch_ a harsh, guttural sound. (In later editions, _carking cares_ was subst.i.tuted for _kiaugh_ and _care_.)

[17.] Belyve the elder bairns come drapping in, Presently the older children come dropping in. (The vowel sound in _bairns_ is like that in _care_.)

[18.] Ca', follow.

[19.] Some tentie rin a cannie errand to a neebor town, some, heedful, run on a quiet errand to a neighboring town.

[20.] E'e, eye.

[21.] Braw, fine.

[22.] Sair-won penny-fee, hard-earned wages.

[23.] Spiers, asks.

[24.] Uncos, wonders, news.

[25.] Sheers, scissors.

[26.] Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new, makes old cloth look almost as well as the new.

[27.] Younkers, young people.

[28.] Eydent, diligent.

[29.] Jauk, trifle.

[30.] Gang, go.

[31.] Wha kens, who knows.

[32.] Neebor, neighbor.

[33.] Hafflins, half.

[34.] Nae, no.

[36.] Ben, inside.

[36.] No ill taen, not ill taken; _i.e._ Jenny's parents are pleased to have the young man come in.

[37.] Cracks, chats.

[38.] Kye, cattle.

[39.] Blate and laithfu', shy and sheepish.

[40.] Wi' a woman's wiles, with a woman's penetration.

[41.] Sae, so.

[42.] The lave, the rest.

[43.] Ruth, pity, tenderness.

[44.] Healsome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food, wholesome porridge, chief of Scotland's food.

[45.] Soupe, milk.

[46.] Hawkie, cow.

[47.] That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood, that beyond the wall snugly chews her cud. In a cottage of this kind the cow lives under the same roof with the family.

[48.] Her weel-hained kebbuck, fell, her well-saved cheese, pungent; _i.e._ her carefully saved, or kept, strong cheese.

[49.] And aft he's pressed, and aft he ca's (p.r.o.nounced like _cause_) it guid, And oft he's urged, and oft he calls it good.

[50.] 'T was a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell, it was a twelve-month old since flax was in flower; _i.e._ when the flax was last in bloom it was a year old.

[51.] The big ha'-Bible (p.r.o.nounced _haw_), the big hall-Bible. The name originated in the fact that large Bibles were first used in the hall, or princ.i.p.al room, of the n.o.ble's castle, where all the household a.s.sembled for wors.h.i.+p.

[52.] Ance, once.

[53.] Bonnet, a soft cap made of seamless woolen stuff.

[54.] Lyart haffets, gray side-locks.

[55.] Those strains that once, etc., _i.e._ the _Psalms_, which were sung in Jerusalem. _Zion_ is really the hill on which the old city of Jerusalem was built.