5 'I came by your door,' quo Fin: 'It lay in your road,' quo Harpkin. 6 'Your dog barkit at me,' quo Fin: 'It's his use and custom,' quo Harpkin. 7 'I flang a stane at him,' quo Fin: 'I'd rather it had been a bane,' quo Harpkin. 8 'Your wife's lichter,' quo Fin: 'She'll clim the brae the brichter,' quo Harpkin. 9 'Of a braw lad bairn,' quo Fin: 'There'll be the mair men for the king's wars,' quo Harpkin. 10 'There's a strae at your beard,' quo Fin: 'I'd rather it had been a thrave,' quo Harpkin. 11 'The ox is eating at it,' quo Fin: 'If the ox were i the water,' quo Harpkin. 12 'And the water were frozen,' quo Fin: 'And the smith and his fore-hammer at it,' quo Harpkin. 13 'And the smith were dead,' quo Fin: 'And another in his stead,' quo Harpkin. 14 'Giff, gaff,' quo Fin: 'Your mou's fou o draff,' quo Harpkin. The peit (peat) in st. 3, below, as I am informed by Dr Davidson, is the wee boy's contribution to the school firing. A Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Introduction, p. lxxiv. From Galloway. 1 'O whare are ye gaun?' Quo the fause knicht upon the road: 'I'm gaun to the scule,' Quo the wee boy, and still he stude. 2 'What is that upon your back? ' quo etc. 'Atweel it is my bukes,' quo etc. 3 'What's that ye've got in your arm?' 'Atweel it is my peit.' 4 'Wha's aucht they sheep?' 'They are mine and my mither's.' 5 'How monie o them are mine?' 'A' they that hae blue tails.' 6 'I wiss ye were on yon tree:' 'And a gude ladder under me.' 7 'And the ladder for to break:' 'And you for to fa down.' 8 'I wiss ye were in yon sie:' 'And a gude bottom under me.' 9 'And the bottom for to break:' 'And ye to be drowned.' B Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiv, No xxxii. 'O whare are ye gaun?' quo the false knight, And false, false was his rede: 'I'm gaun to the scule,' says the pretty little boy, And still, still he stude. [23] At the last moment I come upon this: "The only safeguard against the malice of witches is 'to flight wi dem,' that is, draw them into a controversy and scold them roundly:" (Mrs Saxby, in an interesting contribution of folk-lore from Unst, Shetland, in The Leisure Hour, for March 27, 1880, p. 199.) This view, which has apparently affected 'Harpkin,' is clearly a modern misunderstanding. Let no one trust to scolding for foiling a witch, unless he "knows more words." 4 LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT #A. a.# 'The Gowans sae gay,' Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 22. #b.# 'Aye as the Gowans grow gay,' Motherwell's MS., p. 563.