THE CONFESSION OF
ANNAPLE GOWDIE, WITCH
1
Annie Winnie and me
Were both at Yester kirk;—
She on a broom, and I on a straw,
“Horse and hattock” o'er North Berwick Law
We rode away in the mirk.
2
It was Fastern's Even,
And we lichted down on a grave,
Where an ape preached loud to a ghostly crowd,
Surpliced well with a bonny white shroud,
And a corby sang the stave.
3
“The covin” all was there;
Thirteen of us with “the maid”;—
She was Bessie Vickar from Kelvin side;
And wow! but she hotched in her unco pride—
Deil thraw her neck for a jade.
4
And there was Pickle-the-wind,
And there was Over-the-dyke,
And Ailie Nesbit, Able-and-stout,
And Elspie Gourlay, Good-at-a-bout;
Buzzing all like a byke.
5
Black Jock was in his tantrums;
And hech! but he was daft!
Alick Flett, with his chanter het,
Fizzing whenever his lips it met,
Skirled away in the laft.
6
Oh, we were crouse and canty
A' doon in Yester kirk,
And we supped on the toad and the hooded craw,
Daintily spread on a coffin braw,
At midnight in the mirk.
7
And syne we held a session,
And tried the lassies there;
Twal gruesome carles were elders good,
And a black tom-cat for bethral stood,
And the foul fiend took the chair.
8
And Elspie Gourlay first
Confessed to a strangled bairn;
And Bessie Vickar allowed that she
Whummled a boat in a quiet sea,
With a bonny young bride in the stern,
9
And some had played their cantrips
Wi' poor wives' milking kine;
And one had made an image good,
And crucified it on holy rood,
That the Laird's ae son micht pine.
10
But me and Annie Winnie,
The foul thief kissed us baith;
For we choked the priest on the Eucharist
When he was glowering at Effie M'Christ,
And speaking of holy faith.
11
Hech! sirs, but we had grand fun
Wi' the muckle black deil in the chair,
And the muckle Bible upside doon,
A' gangin' withershins roun' and roun',
And backwards saying the prayer;
12
About the warlock's grave
Withershins gangin' roun',
And kimmer and carline had for licht
The fat o' a bairn they buried that nicht,
Unchristened beneath the moon.
13
And, when the red cock crew
In the farmstead up on the hill,
And the black tom-cat began to mew,
Witch and warlock, away we flew
In the morning gray and chill.
14
And my gudeman was sleeping,
Wi' the besom at his side,
And hech! but he kissed the bonny broom,
My braw gudeman, my auld bridegroom,
As I lichted doon frae my ride.
15
And Annie Winnie and me
Crack crouse o' Yester kirk,
And how she on the broom and I on a straw,
“Horse and hattock” o'er North Berwick Law
Rode away in the mirk.
16
But what if it all was a dream
Of things I had heard before,
And I only said what they wished to be said,
When they twisted the cord round my old gray head
Till flesh could bear no more?
