I like to pack the dead-dole in my lap and rin ower
my auld rhyme--
My loaf in my lap, my penny in my purse,
Thou art ne'er the better, and
I'm ne'er the worse."
"That's right, Annie," said the paralytic woman; "God send us a green
Yule and a fat kirkyard!"
"But I wad like to ken, Luckie Gourlay, for ye're the auldest and wisest
amang us, whilk o' these revellers' turn it will be to be streikit
first?"
"D'ye see yon dandilly maiden," said Dame Gourlay, "a' glistenin' wi'
gowd and jewels, that they are lifting up on the white horse behind that
hare-brained callant in scarlet, wi' the lang sword at his side?"
"But that's the bride!" said her companion, her cold heart touched with
some sort of compassion--"that's the very bride hersell! Eh, whow! sae
young, sae braw, and sae bonny--and is her time sae short?"
"I tell ye," said the sibyl, "her winding sheet is up as high as her
throat already, believe it wha list. Her sand has but few grains to rin
out; and nae wonder--they've been weel shaken. The leaves are withering
fast on the trees, but she'll never see the Martinmas wind gar them
dance in swirls like the fairy rings.
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