Robert Burns(1759–1796)

Tarn O'Shanter

OfBrownyis and of Bogillis full is this Buke.1

W h e n chapman 0 billies 0 leave the street,peddler /fellows

And drouthy 0 neebors neebors meet,thirsty

As market-days are wearing late,

An' folk begin to tak the gate;road

While we sit bousing at the nappy,ale

An' getting fou and unco 0 happy,full I very

We think na on the lang Scots miles,

The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles,bogs /gaps in walls

That lie between us and our hame,

Where sits our sulky sullen dame,

Gathering her brows like gathering storm,

Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.

This truth fand honest Tarn o' Shanter,found

As he frae Ayr ae night did canter,

15 (Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses

For honest men and bonie lasses).

O Tarn! hadst thou but been sae wise,

As ta'en thy ain wife Kate's advice!

She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,good-for-nothing

A blethering, 0 blustering, drunken blellum, 0babbling I windbag

That frae November till October,

Ae market-day thou was nae sober;

That ilka melder, wi' the millerevery I meal-grinding

Thou sat as lang as thou had siller;silver

That every naig was ca'd 0 a shoe on,horse I driven

The smith and thee gat roaring fou on;

That at the Lord's house, even on Sunday,

Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean1 till Monday.

She prophesied that, late or soon,

Thou would be found deep drowned in Doon;

Or catched wi' warlocks 0 in the mirk, 0wizards I dark

By Alloway's auld haunted kirk.2

Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet 0makes I weep

To think how mony counsels sweet,

How mony lengthened sage advices,

The husband frae the wife despises!

But to our tale: Ae market night,

Tam had got planted unco right;

Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely,fireplace I blazing

Wi' reaming 0 swats, 0 that drank divinely;foaming I ale

And at his elbow, Souter Johnny,cobbler

His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony;

Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither;

They had been fou for weeks thegither.

The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter;talk

And aye the ale was growing better:

The landlady and Tam grew gracious,

Wi' favors, secret, sweet, and precious:

The souter tauld his queerest stories;

The landlord's laugh was ready chorus:

The storm without might rair and rustle,

Tam did na mind the storm a whistle.

Care, mad to see a man sae happy,

E'en drowned himsel amang the nappy;

As bees flee hame wi' lades 0 o' treasure,loads

The minutes winged their way wi' pleasure;

Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,

O'er a' the ills o' life victorious!

But pleasures are like poppies spread,

You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;

Or like the snow falls in the river,

A moment white—then melts for ever;

Or like the borealis race,

That flit ere you can point their place;

Or like the rainbow's lovely form

Evanishing amid the storm—

Nae man can tether time nor tide;

The hour approaches Tam maun ride;must

That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane,keystone

That dreary hour, he mounts his beast in;

And sic a night he taks the road in,

As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in.

The wind blew as 'twad 0 blawn its last;it would have

The rattling show'rs rose on the blast;

The speedy gleams the darkness swallowed;

Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellowed:

That night, a child might understand,

The Deil had business on his hand.Devil

Weel mounted on his gray mare, Meg,

A better never lifted leg,

Tarn skelpit 0 on thro' dub and mire,hurried I fuddle

Despising wind, and rain, and fire;

Whiles 0 holding fast his guid blue bonnet;sometimes

Whiles crooning 0 o'er some auld Scots sonnet; 0 humming!song

Whiles glow'ring 0 round wi' prudent cares,staring

Lest bogles catch him unawares.

Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh,

Whare ghaists 0 and houlets 0 nightly cry.ghosts I owls

By this time he was cross the ford,

Where in the snaw the chapman smoored;smothered

And past the birks and meikle stane,birches / great / stone

Where drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane;

And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,furze

Where hunters fand the murdered bairn;child

And near the thorn, aboon the well,above

Where Mungo's mither hanged hersel.

Before him Doon pours all his floods;

The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;

The lightnings flash from pole to pole;

Near and more near the thunders roll:

When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,

Kirk-Alloway seemed in a bleeze;blaze

Thro' ilka bore 0 the beams were glancing;

And loud resounded mirth and dancing.

Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!

What dangers thou canst make us scorn!

Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil;twopenny ale

Wi' usquebae 0 we'll face the devil!whisky

The swats 0 sae reamed 0 in Tammie's noddle,ale I foamed

Fair play, he cared na deils a boddle.farthing

But Maggie stood right sair astonished,sorely

Till, by the heel and hand admonished,

She ventured forward on the light;

And, vow! Tarn saw an unco sight!

Warlocks and witches in a dance;

Nae cotillon 0 brent 0 new frae France,dance I brand

But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,Highland dances

Put life and mettle in their heels.

A winnock-bunker 0 in the east,window seat

There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast;

A towzie 0 tyke, 0 black, grim, and large!tousled!dog

To gie them music was his charge:

He screwed the pipes and gart 0 them skirl, 0made I shrill

Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.ring

Coffins stood round like open presses,closets

That shawed the dead in their last dresses;

And by some devilish cantraip 0 slight 0weird I trick

Each in its cauld hand held a light,

By which heroic Tam was able

To note upon the haly table

A murderer's banes in gibbet-airns;-irons

Twa span-lang, 3 wee, unchristened bairns; 0children

A thief new-cutted frae a rape,rope

Wi' his last gasp his gab 0 did gape;mouth

Five tomahawks, wi' blude red-rusted;

Five scymitars, wi' murder crusted;

A garter, which a babe had strangled;

A knife, a father's throat had mangled,

Whom his ain son o' life bereft,

The gray hairs yet stack to the heft;

Wi' mair of horrible and awfu',

Which even to name wad be unlawfu'.

As Tammie glowred, amazed, and curious,stared

The mirth and fun grew fast and furious:

The piper loud and louder blew;

The dancers quick and quicker flew;

They reeled, they set, they crossed, they

cleekit,joined hands

Till ilka carlin swat and reekit,old woman / sweated / steamed

And coost her duddies 0 to the wark,cast off I dress

And linkit 0 at it in her sark!trifled nimbly I shift

Now Tam, O Tam! had thae been queans,girls

A' plump and strapping in their teens;

Their sarks, instead o' creeshie 0 flannen, 0greasy I flannel

Been snaw-white seventeen hunder linen!4

Thir breeks o' mine, my only pair,these

That ance were plush, o' gude blue hair,

I wad hae gi'en them off my hurdies,buttocks

For ae blink o' the bonie burdies!maidens

But wither'd beldams, auld and droll,old women

Rigwoodie 0 hags wad spean a foal,scrawny I wean

Louping 0 and flinging on a crummock, 0leaping I staff

I wonder didna turn thy stomach.

But Tam kend what was what fu' brawlie,well

There was ae winsome wench and wawlie 0huxom

That night enlisted in the core,company

(Lang after kent on Carrick shoreknown

For mony a beast to dead she shot,

And perished mony a bonie boat,

And shook baith meikle 0 corn and bear, 0much I barley

And kept the country-side in fear).

Her cutty 0 sark, o' Paisley harn,short I coarse cloth

That while a lassie she had worn,

In longitude tho' sorely scanty,

It was her best, and she was vauntie.proud

Ah! little kend thy reverend grannie

That sark she coft for her wee Nannie

Wi' twa pund Scots ('twas a' her riches)

Wad ever graced a dance of witches!

But here my Muse her wing maun cour;stoop

Sic flights are far beyond her pow'r—

To sing how Nannie lap 0 and flang,

(A souple jade she was, and Strang),

And how Tarn stood, like ane bewitched,

And thought his very een enriched;eyes

Even Satan glowr'd, and fidged fu' fain,wriggled I happy

And hotched 0 and blew wi' might and main:hitched (himself)

Till first ae caper, syne anither,then

Tarn tint 0 his reason a' thegither,lost

And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!

And in an instant all was dark!

And scarcely had he Maggie rallied,

When out the hellish legion sallied.

As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke,fuss

When plundering herds 0 assail their byke;shepherds I hive

As open 0 pussie's 0 mortal foes,hay I the hare's

When pop! she starts before their nose;

As eager runs the market-crowd,

When "Catch the thief! resounds aloud;

So Maggie runs; the witches follow,

Wi' mony an eldritch 0 skriech and hollow.unearthly

Ah, Tam! ah, Tarn! thou'11 get thy fairin!punishment

In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin!

In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin!

Kate soon will be a woefu' woman!

Now do thy speedy utmost, Meg,

And win the key-stane o' the brig;

There at them thou thy tail may toss,

A running stream they dare na cross.

But ere the key-stane she could make,

The fient a tail she had to shake!5

For Nannie, far before the rest,

Hard upon noble Maggie prest,

And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle;purpose

But little wist she Maggie's mettle.

Ae spring brought off her master hale,whole

But left behind her ain gray tail:

The carlin claught 0 her by the rump,clutched

And left poor Maggie scarce a stump.

Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read,

Each man and mother's son, take heed:

Whene'er to drink you are inclined,

Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,

Think! ye may buy the joys o'er dear;

Remember Tarn o' Shanter's mare.

1791