Fifty "Bab" Ballads: Much Sound and Little SenseGilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck)
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Fifty "Bab" Ballads: Much Sound and Little Sense
Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck)
English wit and humor; Humorous poetry, English
From the bonnie blue Forth to the lovely Deeside,
Round by Dingwall and Wrath to the mouth of the Clyde,
There wasn’t a child or a woman or man
Who could pipe with CLONGLOCKETTY ANGUS MCCLAN.
No other could wake such detestable groans,
With reed and with chaunter—with bag and with drones:
All day and ill night he delighted the chiels
With sniggering pibrochs and jiggety reels.
He’d clamber a mountain and squat on the ground,
And the neighbouring maidens would gather around
To list to the pipes and to gaze in his een,
Especially ELLEN MCJONES ABERDEEN.
All loved their MCCLAN, save a Sassenach brute,
Who came to the Highlands to fish and to shoot;
He dressed himself up in a Highlander way,
Tho’ his name it was PATTISON CORBY TORBAY.
TORBAY had incurred a good deal of expense
To make him a Scotchman in every sense;
But this is a matter, you’ll readily own,
That isn’t a question of tailors alone.
A Sassenach chief may be bonily built,
He may purchase a sporran, a bonnet, and kilt;
Stick a skeän in his hose—wear an acre of stripes—
But he cannot assume an affection for pipes.
CLONGLOCKETY’S pipings all night and all day
Quite frenzied poor PATTISON CORBY TORBAY;
The girls were amused at his singular spleen,
Especially ELLEN MCJONES ABERDEEN,
“MACPHAIRSON CLONGLOCKETTY ANGUS, my lad,
With pibrochs and reels you are driving me mad.
If you really must play on that cursed affair,
My goodness! play something resembling an air.”
Boiled over the blood of MACPHAIRSON MCCLAN—
The Clan of Clonglocketty rose as one man;
For all were enraged at the insult, I ween—
Especially ELLEN MCJONES ABERDEEN.
“Let’s show,” said MCCLAN, “to this Sassenach loon
That the bagpipes _can_ play him a regular tune.
Let’s see,” said MCCLAN, as he thoughtfully sat,
“‘_In my Cottage_’ is easy—I’ll practise at that.”
He blew at his “Cottage,” and blew with a will,
For a year, seven months, and a fortnight, until
(You’ll hardly believe it) MCCLAN, I declare,
Elicited something resembling an air.
It was wild—it was fitful—as wild as the breeze—
It wandered about into several keys;
It was jerky, spasmodic, and harsh, I’m aware;
But still it distinctly suggested an air.
The Sassenach screamed, and the Sassenach danced;
He shrieked in his agony—bellowed and pranced;
And the maidens who gathered rejoiced at the scene—
Especially ELLEN MCJONES ABERDEEN.
“Hech gather, hech gather, hech gather around;
And fill a’ ye lugs wi’ the exquisite sound.
An air fra’ the bagpipes—beat that if ye can!
Hurrah for CLONGLOCKETTY ANGUS MCCLAN!”
The fame of his piping spread over the land:
Respectable widows proposed for his hand,
And maidens came flocking to sit on the green—
Especially ELLEN MCJONES ABERDEEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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