"Guid e'en to ye, 'Cuif,'" cried Meg Kissock as soon as Saunders Mowdiewort came within earshot. He came stolidly forward tramping through the bog with his boots newly greased with what remained of the smooth candle "dowp" with which he had sleeked his flaxen locks. He wore a broad blue Kilmarnock bonnet, checked red and white in a "dam-brod" [draught-board] pattern round the edge, and a blue-buttoned coat with broad pearl buttons. It may be well to explain that there is a latent meaning, apparent only to Galloway folk of the ancient time, in the word "cuif." It conveys at once the ideas of inefficiency and folly, of simplicity and the ignorance of it. The cuif is a feckless person of the male sex, who is a recognized butt for a whole neighbourhood to sharpen its wits upon. The particular cuif so addressed by Meg came slowly over the knoll. "Guid e'en to ye," he said, with his best visiting manners. "Can ye no see me as weel, Saunders?" said Jess, archly, for all was grist that came to her mill. Saunders rose like a trout to the fly. "Ow aye, Jess, lass, I saw ye brawly, but it disna do to come seekin' twa lasses at ae time."' "Dinna ye be thinkin' to put awa' Meg, an' then come coortin' me!" said Jess, sharply. Saunders was hurt for the moment at this pointed allusion both to his profession and also to his condition as a "seekin'" widower. "Wha seeks you, Jess, 'ill be sair ill-aff!" he replied very briskly for a cuif. The sound of Meg's voice in round altercation with Jock Gordon, the privileged "natural" or innocent fool of the parish, interrupted this interchange of amenities, which was indeed as friendly and as much looked for between lads and lasses as the ordinary greeting of "Weel, hoo's a' wi' ye the nicht?" which began every conversation between responsible folks. "Jock Gordon, ye lazy ne'er-do-weel, ye hinna carried in a single peat, an' it comin' on for parritch-time. D'ye think my maister can let the like o' you sorn on him, week in, week oot, like a mawk on a sheep's hurdie? Gae wa' oot o' that, lyin' sumphin' [sulking] an' sleepin' i' the middle o' the forenicht, an' carry the water for the boiler an' bring in the peats frae the stack."