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I
AS I was walking mine alane | |
| Atween a water and a wa’, | |
| There I spied a wee wee man, | |
| And he was the least that ere I saw. | |
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II
His legs were scant a shathmont’s length, | 5 |
| And thick and thimber was his thie; | |
| Atween his brows there was a span, | |
| And atween his shoulders there was three. | |
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III
He’s ta’en and flung a meikle stane, | |
| And he flang ’t as far as I could see; | 10 |
| Though I had been a Wallace wight | |
| I couldna liften ’t to my knee. | |
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IV
‘O wee wee man, but ye be strang! | |
| O tell me where your dwelling be?’ | |
| ‘My dwelling’s down by yon bonny bower; | 15 |
| Fair lady, come wi’ me and see.’ | |
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V
On we lap, and awa’ we rade, | |
| Till we came to yon bonny green; | |
| We lighted down to bait our steed, | |
| And out there came a lady sheen; | 20 |
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VI
Wi’ four and twenty at her back | |
| A’ comely clad in glisterin’ green; | |
| Tho’ the King of Scotland had been there, | |
| The warst o’ them might ha’ been his queen. | |
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VII
On we lap, and awa’ we rade, | 25 |
| Till we came to a bonny ha’; | |
| The roof was o’ the beaten gowd, | |
| And the floor was o’ the cristal a’. | |
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VIII
When we came to the stair-foot, | |
| Ladies were dancing jimp and sma’, | 30 |
| But in the twinkling of an eie | |
| My wee wee man was clean awa’. | |
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IX
Out gat the lights, on came the mist, | |
| Ladies nor mannie mair cou’d I see: | |
| I turn’d about, and gae a look | 35 |
| Just at the foot o’ Benachie. | |
| | | GLOSS: shathmont] measure from the point of the extended thumb to the extremity of the palm, six inches. thimber] stout. thie] thigh. lap] leapt. sheen] shining, beautiful. |
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