003 A Waukrife Minnie
1．
‘Whare are you gaun, my bonie lass?
Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?’
She answer'd me right saucilie—
‘An errand for my minnie!’
2．
‘O, whare live ye, my bonie lass?
O, whare live ye, my hinnie?’
‘By yon burnside, gin ye maun ken,
In a wee house wi' my minnie!’
3．
But I foor up the glen at e'en,
To see my bonie lassie;
And lang before the grey morn cam,
She was na hauf sae saucy.
4．
O, weary fa' the waukrife cock,
And the foumart lay his crawin!
He wauken'd the auld wife frae her sleep,
A wee blink or the dawin.
5．
An angry wife I wat she raise,
And o'er the bed she brought her,
And wi' a meikle hazel-rung
She made her a weel-pay'd dochter.
6．
‘O, fare-thee-weel, my bonie lass,
O, fare-thee-weel, my hinnie!
Thou art a gay and a bonie lass,
But thou has a waukrife minnie!’
Notes
Title A Waukrife Minnie: A Wakeful Mother
Burns improved on a song sung to him by a girl in Nithsdale. It was first printed on 2nd February, 1790.
Stanza 1
Line 1 Whare: where; gaun: going
Line 2 hinnie: honey, darling
Line 3 saucilie: saucily
Stanza 2
Line 3 yon burnside: the riverside over there; gin ye maun ken: if you must know
Line 4 wee: little
Stanza 3
Line 1 foor: went; e'en: evening
Line 3 lang: long; cam: came
Line 4 na hauf sae: not half so
Stanza 4
Line 1 weary: woe
Line 2 foumart lay his crawin: polecat stopped his crowing
Line 3 wauken'd the auld wife frae: woke the old wife from
Line 4 A wee blink or: just before; dawin: dawning, dawn
Stanza 5
Line 1 wat: know
Line 3 wi' a meikle hazel-rung: with a big stick (hazel cudgel)
Line 4 weel-pay'd dochter: well thrashed daughter