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326 |
WADDS AND THE WEARS |
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One of the opposite party then says—
Ye had better light, and bide a' night, And I'll choose you a bonny ane.
O wha will ye choose, an' I wi' you abide ? The fairest and rarest in a' the country side.
At the same time presenting an unmarried female by name. If the choice give satisfaction—
I'll set her up on the bonny pear-tree;
It's straught and tall, and sae is she;
I wad wake a' night her love to be. If the choice do not give satisfaction, from the age of the
party—
I'll set her up i' the bank dike;
She'll be rotten ere I be ripe;
The corbies her auld banes wadna pike.
If from supposed want of temper—
I'll set her up on the high crab-tree;
It's sour and dour, and sae is she;
She may gang to the mools unkissed by me. A civil mode of declining is to say—
She's for another, and no for me;
I thank you for your courtesie.
The same ritual is gone through with respect to one of the other sex; in which case such rhymes as the following are used :—
I'll put him on a riddle, and blaw him owre the sea,
Wha'll buy [Johnie Paterson] for me ?
I'll put him on my big lum head,
And blaw him up wi' pouther and lead. Or, when the proposed party is agreeable—• I'll set him on my table head, And feed him up wi' milk and bread. A refusal must be atoned for by a wadd or forfeit. A piece of money, a knife, or any little thing which the owner prizes, will serve. When a sufficient number of persons have made forfeits, the business of redeeming them is commenced, and generally it is then that the amusement is greatest. The duty of kissing some person, or some part of the room, is usually |
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