The Pirate
exceeding high mountain of a steep ascent, called the Ward-hill of Hoy,
near the top of which, in the months of May, June, and July, about
midnight, is seen something that shines and sparkles admirably, and
which is often seen a great way off. It hath shined more brightly
before than it does now, and though many have climbed up the hill, and
attempted to search for it, yet they could find nothing. The vulgar
talk of it as some enchanted carbuncle, but I take it rather to be some
water sliding down the face of a smooth rock, which, when the sun,
at such a time, shines upon, the reflection causeth that admirable
splendour."--DR. WALLACE'S _Description of the Islands of Orkney_,
12mo, 1700, p. 52.
FOOTNOTES:
[61] So placed in the old MS.
[62] _Boor_--so spelt, to accord with the vulgar pronunciation of the
word _bower_.
[63] _Porte_--so spelt in the original. The word is known as indicating
a piece of music on the bagpipe, to which ancient instrument, which is
of Scandinavian origin, the sword-dance may have been originally
composed.
[64] _Stour_, great.
[65] _Muckle tinte_, much loss or harm; so in MS.
[66] Something is evidently amiss or omitted here. David probably
exhibited some feat of archery.
[67] _Lout_--to bend or bow down, pronounced _loot_, as _doubt_ is
_doot_ in Scotland.
[68] _Figuir_--so spelt in MS.
[69] _Agast_--so spelt in MS.
EDITOR'S NOTES.
(_a_) p. xxix. "There came a ghost to Margaret's door." In some versions
of "Clerk Saunders" the lady's troth is "streeked" on a rod of glass,
and so she and the ghost are freed from their plighted love.
(_b_) p. 15. "Scat, wattle, hawkhen, hagalef." Different kinds of duties
exacted in Zetland.
(_c_) p. 18. "Berserkars." Apparently there was a time when these
formidable persons were merely champion warriors, a kind of professional
soldiery. In the "Raven Song," an old Norse lay, the Valkyrie asks the
Raven about Harold Fair Hair's Bearsarks. "Wolfcoats they call them,
that bear bloody targets in battle, that redden their spear heads when
they come into fight, when they are at work together. The wise king, I
trow, will only reward men of high renown among them that smite on the
shield." Later, perhaps, the Bearsarks won their evil reputation, as
ravening maniacs of battle, given to biting their shields and behaving
in an hysterical manner. In such sagas as that of Grettir they are
violent bullies, sometimes selling their services. (See Powell and
Vigfussen's "Corpus Boreale," i. 257.)
(_d_) p. 27. Motto. The second verse is not part of the original ballad,
which was altered by Allan Ramsay.
(_e_) p. 39. "Bolts and bars in Scotland." There are still places so
innocent--in Galloway, at least--that doors and windows may be, and are,
left open all night.
(_f_) p. 45. "Deilbelicket." This is the name of an old Scotch dish, of
which goose and gooseberries are component parts. The recipe occurs in
Gait's "Ayrshire Legatees."
(_g_) p. 46. "James Guthrie." An account of this martyr of the Covenant
will be found in the Editor's Notes to "Old Mortality."
(_h_) p. 151. "Lucas Jacobson Debes." "Foeroae et Foeroa Reserata. A
description of the Isles and inhabitants of Faeroe, Englished by John
Sterpin," 12mo, London 1676, Abbotsford Library.
(_i_) p. 173. "Multures--lock, gowpen, and knaveship." Feudal and other
dues on corn ground at the laird's mill.
(_k_) p. 231. "The wilds of Strathnavern." Montrose met his final defeat
at Strathoykel, at a steep rounded hill, still called the Rock of
Lament. His men were driven into the Kyle, which there is deep and wide.
Montrose fled up the Oykel, into Assynt. The Naver flows due north, the
Oykel from west to east.
(_l_) p. 234. Sword Dance. Scott can hardly have escaped being familiar
with the degradation of this dance as played at Christmas by the
Guizards. They are lads who go round acting and dancing in kitchens.
Their songs may be found in Chambers's "Popular Rhymes of Scotland."
Guizards performed at the Folk-Lore Congress in London 1891.
(_m_) p. 257. "The battue in Ettrick Forest, for the destruction of the
foxes." This ceased when the Duke of Buccleugh hunted the district, but
foxes are still shot in the inaccessible heights of Meggat Water.
(_n_) p. 261. Sharing the whale. An account of a battle for a stranded
whale may be read in the Saga of Grettir, translated by Mr. Morris and
Mr. Magnussen.
(_o_) p. 279. For [Greek: Nephelêgeréta Zeus] read [Greek: Nephelêgeréta
Zeús].
(_p_) p. 299. "That wonderful carbuncle." This must be the origin of
Hawthorne's tale "The Great Carbuncle."
ANDREW LANG.
_August 1893._
GLOSSARY.
A', all.
Ae, one.
Aff, off.
Afore, before.
Aigre, sour.
Aik, the oak.
Ain, own.
Air, an open sea-beach.
Airn, iron.
A-low, ablaze.
Amang, among.
An, if.
Ance, once.
Ane, one.
Anent, regarding.
Aneugh, eneugh, enow, enough.
Angus, Forfarshire.
Aroint, avaunt.
Aught, to possess or belong to.
Auld, old.
Auld-world, ancient, old-fashioned.
Aver, a cart-horse.
Awa, away.
Awmous, alms.
Awn, a beard (of grain).
Awsome, fearful.
Back-spauld, the back of the shoulder.
Bailie, a magistrate.
Bairn, a child.
Baith, both.
Banning, cursing.
Bauld, bold.
Bear, a kind of barley.
Bear-braird, barley-sprouting.
Bee-skep, a bee-hive.
Bell-the-cat, to contend with.
Bern, a child.
Bicker, a wooden dish.
Bide, to stay.
Big, to build.
Biggin, a building.
Biggit, built.
Billie, brother.
Bittle, a wooden bat for the beating of linen.
Bland, a drink made from butter-milk.
Bleeze, blaze.
Blithe, glad.
Blurt, to burst out speaking.
Bonally, a parting drink.
Bonnie, pretty.
Bonnie-die, a toy, a trinket.
Bonnie-wallies, good things, gewgaws.
Bourasque, a sudden squall.
Braid, broad.
Braws, fine clothes.
Breekless, trouserless.
Burn-brae, the acclivity at the bottom of which a rivulet runs.
Callant, a lad.
Canna, cannot.
Canny, prudent.
Canty, lively and cheerful.
Carles, farm servants.
Carline, a witch.
Cart-avers, cart-horses.
Cateran, a Highland robber.
Cauld, cold.
Caup, a cup.
"Causeyed syver," a cause-wayed sewer.
Certie--"my certie!" my faith!
Change-house, an inn.
Chapman, a small merchant or pedlar.
Chield, a fellow.
Claith, cloth.
Clatter, to tattle.
Claver, to chatter.
Clavers, idle talk.
Clog, a small short log, a billet of wood.
Coal-heugh, a coal-pit.
Coble, a small boat.
Cog, a wooden bowl.
Cogfu', the full of a wooden bowl.
Coorse, coarse.
Coup, to exchange.
Crack, to boast.
Creel, a basket. "In a creel," foolish.
Croft-land, land of superior quality, which was still cropped.
Crowdie, meal and water stirred up together.
Cummer, a gossip.
Curch, a kerchief for covering the head.
Cusser, a stallion.
Daffing, larking.
Daft, crazy.
Daikering, sauntering.
Dead-thraw, the death-throes.
Deftly, handsomely.
Deil, the devil.
Ding, to knock.
Dinna, do not.
Dirk, a dagger.
Doited, stupid.
Doun, down.
Dour, sullen, hard, stubborn.
Dowlas, a strong linen cloth.
Drammock, raw meal and water.
Drouth, thirst.
Duds, clothes.
Een, eyes.
Embaye, to enclose.
Equals-aquals, in the way of division strictly equal.
Fa', fall.
Factor, a land steward.
"Farcie on his face!" a malediction.
Fash, fashery, trouble.
Ferlies, unusual events or things.
"Ferlies make fools fain," wonders make fools eager.
Fey, fated, or predestined to speedy death.
Fifish, crazy, eccentric.
Fir-clog, a small log of fir.
Flang, flung.
Flichter, to flutter or tremble.
"Flinching a whale," slicing the blubber from the bones.
"Floatsome and jetsome," articles floated or cast away on the sea.
"Fool carle," a clown, a stupid fellow.
Forby, besides.
Forpit, a measure = the fourth part of a peck.
Fowd, the chief judge or magistrate.
Frae, from.
Freit, a charm or superstition.
Fule, a fool.
Gaberlunzie, a tinker or beggar.
Gaed, went.
Gait, gate, way, direction.
Gane, gone.
Gang, go.
Ganging, going.
Gangrel, vagrant.
Gar, to oblige, to force.
Gascromh, an instrument for trenching ground, shaped like a currier's
knife with a crooked handle.
"Gay mony," a good many.
Gear, property.
Gie, give.
Gills, the jaws.
Gin, if.
Gio, a deep ravine which admits the sea.
Girdle, an iron plate on which to fire cakes.
Glamour, a fascination or charm.
Glebe, land belonging to the parish minister in right of his office.
Glower, to gaze.
Gowd, gold.
Gowk, a fool.
Gowpen, the full of both hands.
Graip, a three-pronged pitch-fork.
Graith, furniture.
Grew, to shiver. The flesh is said to _grew_ when a chilly sensation
passes over the surface of the body.
Grist, a mill fee payable in kind.
Gude, good.
Gudeman, gudewife, the heads of the house.
Gue, a two-stringed violin.
Guide, to treat, to take care of.
Guizards, maskers or mummers.
Gyre-carline, a hag.
Haaf, deep-sea fishing.
Haaf-fish, a large kind of seal.
Hae, have.
Haft, to fix, to settle.
Hagalef, payment for liberty to cast peats.
Haill, whole.
Hald, hold.
Halier, a cavern into which the tide flows.
Hallanshaker, a vagabond, a beggar.
Halse, the throat.
Hand-quern, a hand-mill.
Happer, the hopper of a mill.
Harry, to plunder.
Har'st, harvest.
Hasp, a hank of yarn. "Ravelled hasp," everything in confusion.
Haud, hauld, hold.
Havings, behaviour.
Hawkhen, hens exacted by the royal falconer on his visits to the islands.
Helyer, a cavern into which the tide flows.
Hialtland, the old name for Shetland.
Hinny, a term of endearment=honey.
Hirple, to halt, to limp.
Hirsel, to move or slide down.
Housewife-skep, housewifery.
Hout! tut!
Howf, a haunt, a haven.
Ilk, of the same name.
Ilk, ilka, each, every.
Ill-fa'red, ill-favoured.
"In a creel," foolish.
Infield, land continually cropped.
In-town, land adjacent to the farmhouse.
Isna, is not.
Jagger, a pedlar.
Jaud, a jade.
Jougs, the pillory.
Kail-pot, a large pot for boiling broth.
Kain--"to pay the kain," to suffer severely.
Ken, to know.
"Ken'dfolks," "ken'dfreend," well-known people, a well-known friend.
Kiempe, a Norse champion.
Kist, a chest.
Kittle, difficult, ticklish.
Kittywake, a kind of sea-gull.
"Knapped Latin," spoke Latin.
Knave, a miller's boy.
Knaveship, a small due of meal paid to the miller.
Kraken, a fabulous sea-monster.
Kyloes, small black cattle.
Lad-bairn, a male child.
Lair, learning.
Lang, long.
Langspiel, an obsolete musical instrument.
Lave, the rest.
Lawright-man, an officer whose chief duty was the regulation of
weights and measures.
_Lawting_, a court of law.
_Limmer_, a woman of loose character.
Lispund, the fifteenth part of a barrel, a weight used in Orkney
and Shetland.
List, to wish, to choose.
Loan, a lane, an enclosed road.
Lock, a handful.
Loo'ed, loved.
Loom, a vessel.
Loon, a lad, a fellow.
Lowe, a flame.
Lug, the ear.
Lum, a chimney.
Mair, more.