Petition to the Deil :: :: University of Virginia Library

These prophetic verses were written more than a year before the outbreak of the German War of Aggression. They symbolize the British Empire under the figure of a farm town, leased by John Tamson. The Cock represents military power. The fifteen Hens are the German States—a fuller enumeration gives twenty-five. Auld Sawturn is a combination of Saturn and Satan, in the Roman and Hebrew mythologies respectively.

A cock cam into the yaird
Up at John Tamson's toun,
An' he liftit a claw in the air like a paw
An' keekit cannily roun':
“There's no a cock i' the toun!”
An' he pat his fit bauldly doun,
Then he stude up to blaw, an' he blew a great craw,
An' the hens they cam bustlin' roun'.

It was a bauld thing he had dar'd.
Far better he never had crewn!
Fifteen hens his affection shar'd,
Yet he cam to John Tamson's toun!

The black, an' the white, an' the broun,
They keckl'd an' skirl'd at the soun';
An' the gallant was proud at the sicht o' the croud—
He had wauken'd John Tamson's toun!
He stude on the tips o' his taes,
An' he blew as he never had blewn;
He blew wi' sic strength, an' he crew at sic length,
His revelry rang i' the toun!

Noo, the Cock o' John Tamson's toun,
Fra his roost i' the rafters aboon,
As sune as he heard the row i' the yaird,
He flew like Auld Sawturn doun.
On the tips o' his wings an' his taes
He flew as he never had flewn;
He cam wi' a force an' a fire roun' the closs,
An' he dang the adventurer doun!

The gallant was siller-an'-black
That ventur'd to enter the toun,
But the Cock o' John Tamson had wecht and had fecht,
An' his colours were sulfur-an'-broun.

There was fire in the glint o' his ee,
There was wrath in the kaim o' his croun,
An' he ran in a raize wi' his beard in a blaze,
An' he dang the adventurer doun!

He gied him a dab an' a stab,
An' curst as he kickit him doun;
When he rase i' the air he counter'd him there,
An' the yaird wi' his feathers was strewn!

Noo, this fecht was a terrible fecht!
The hens flew abeigh at the soun';
But the Cock o' John Tamson had sherpness an' wecht,
An' he ca'd the invader doun.
He lay on his back in a swoon;
He gaspit, but never cam roun'!
An' that was the last o' the cock an' his blast
That wauken'd John Tamson's toun.

The hen-wife was deaf, but she heard,
An' she cam to the door at the soun';
An' there lay the siller-an'-black on his back,
An' there stude the sulfur-an'-broun!

Noo, the fifteen fools aforesaid,
They murn'd i' the neiborin' toun;
But auld John Tamson feastit an' fed,
An' leugh as he lickit his spoon.

L'Envoie.

Now whether you're Kaiser or caird,
A German cock-laird or a loon,
I warnis ye a', tak tent to my saw—
Bide aff o' John Tamson's toun!