They fteek, their een, an' grape an' wale An' wander'd thro' the Bow-kail,, A runt was like a fow-tail, Then, ftraught or crooked, yird or nane, Wi' cannie care, they've plac'd them To lie that night.. VI. The laffes ftaw frae 'mang them a', To pou their talks o' corn*; with eyes fhut, and pull the first they meet with: its being big or little, ftraight or crooked, is prophetic of the fize and mape of the grand object of all their Spells the husband of wife. If any yird or, earth ftick to the root, that is Tocher, or Fortune; and the taste of the caftor, that is, the heart of the Stem, is indicative of the natural temper and difpofition. Laftly, the ftems, or, to give them their ordinary appellation, the runts, are placed fome where above the head of the door-; and the Chriftian names of the people whom chance brings into the house, are, according to the priority of placing the Runts, the name: in queftion. *They go to the barn-yard, and pull each, at three feveral times, a talk of Oats. If the third talk wants the top-pickle, But Rab flips out, an' jinks about,». He grippet Nelly hard an' faft; : But her tap-pickle maist was lost. When kiutlin i the Fause-house Wï' him that night. ! VII. The auld Gaidwife's weel-hoordet nits t Are round an' round divided, An' monie lads an' laffes fates. Are there that night decided; Some start awa, wi' faucy pride, Fu' high that night. that is the grain at the top of the flalk, the party in question will come to the marriage-bed any thing but a maid. * When the corn is in a doubtful ftate, by being too green or wet, the stack builder, by means of old timber, &c. makes a large apartment in his ftack, with an opening in the fide which is fairest expofed to the wind: this he calls a Faufe-house. Burning the nuts is a favourite charm. They name the fad and lafs to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire; and according as they burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and iffue of the Court-, ship will be. VIIE Jean flips in twa, wi' tentie e'e ;. But this is Jock, an' this is me, She fays in to hersel: He bleez'd owre her, and the owre him,, As they would ne'er mair part, Till fuff! he ftarted up the lum, An' Jean had e'en a fair heart To fee't that night, IX, Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt,.. An' Mary, nae doubt, took the drunt, To be compar'd to Willie: Mall's nit lap out, wi' pridefu' fling. An' her ain fit it brunt it; While Willie lap, an' fwoor by jing, 'Twas just the way he wanted To be that night, X. Nell had the Fause-house in her min',. She pits herself an' Rob in ; In loving bleeze they sweetly join, Rob, ftowlins, prie'd her bony mou', Fu' cozie in the neuk for't, Unfeen that night.. XI. But Merran fat behint their backs, She thro' the yard the nearest taks, An' darklins grapit for the bauks, And in the Blue-clue throws then, Right fear't that night. XII. An' ay fhe win't, an' ay the fwaty Or whether 'twas a bauk-en', She did na wait on talkin To fpier that night." *Whoever would, with fuccefs, try this fpell, muft ftri&t. ly observe these directions: Steal out, al alone, to the kiln, and, darkling, throw into the pot a clew of blue yarn; wind it in a new clew of the old one; and, towards the latter end, fomething will hold the thread: demand who hauds? i. e. who holds and anfwer will be returned from the kiln-pot, by naming the Chriftian and Surname of your future Spouse. XIII. • Wee Jenny to her Graunie fays, Will ye go wi' me graunie? * at the glass, • I'll eat the apple I gat frae uncle. Johnie :" She fuff't her pipe wi' fic a lunt, In wrath fhe was fae vap'rin, She notic't na, an aizle brunt Her braw new worset apron Out thro' that night. XIV. Ye little Skelpie-limmers face ! < For many a ane has gotten a fright, • On fic a night. XV. "Ae Hairft afore the Sherra-moor, I mind t as weel's yeftreen, I was a gilpy then, I'm fure I was na paft fyfteen : Take a candle, and go alone to a looking-glafs; eat an apple before it, and fome traditions fay, you should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjugal companion › to be, will be feen in the glafs, as if peeping over your fhoulder. |