"Kirkmaiden dames may crously craw And cock their nose fu' canty, For Maggy Elson's now awa', That lately bragged sae vaunty That she could kill each cow an' ca', An' make their milk fu' scanty-- Since Death's gi'en Maggy's neck a thraw, They'll a' hae butter plenty, In lumps each day. Ye fishermen, a' roun' the shore, Huzza wi' might and mettle, Nae mair ye'll furnish frae your store A cod for Maggy's kettle-- Nae mair ye'll fear the clouds that lour, Nor storms that roun' you rattle, Lest, conjured up by cantrip power, They coup you wi' a brattle I' the sea some day. Ye ewes that bleat the knowes out o'er, Ye kye that roam the valley, Nae dread of Maggy's magic glower Need henceforth mair assail ye: Nae horse nor mare, by Circean power, Shall now turn up its belly, For Death has lock'd Meg's prison door, And gi'en the keys to Kelly To keep this day." Passing to the Machars of Galloway, a curious witch-story comes from Whithorn corresponding to and somewhat similar in trend to the first acts in the dramatic happenings of "Tam o' Shanter," and the story already told of Dalry Kirk:-- "Long ago there lived in Whithorn a tailor who was an elder of the Church, and who used to 'whip the cat,' that is, go to the country to ply his trade. Being once engaged at a farm-house, the farmer told him to bring his wife with him and spend an afternoon at the farm. The invitation was accepted, and on returning at night, the attention of the knight of the needle and his better-half was attracted to an old kiln, situated at the low end of the 'Rotten Row,' from which rays of light were emanating. This surprised the worthy couple, all the more as the old kiln had for long been in a state of disuse. Their curiosity being thus awakened, they approached to look through the chinks of the door, when to their astonishment they beheld a sight somewhat similar to that seen by 'Tam o' Shanter' at 'Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirk.' Among the _dramatis personæ_ who should they recognise but the minister's wife, whom they both knew well. She, along with a bevy of withered hags, was engaged in cantrips, being distinguished by a peculiar kind of garter which she wore. Next Sabbath the tailor elder demanded a meeting of the Kirk-Session; but the minister declared that the story was a monstrosity, as his wife had not been out of bed that night. Not being easily repressed, however, the tailor requested that the minister's wife should be brought then and there before the Session. When she appeared it was found that she had on the identical garters she had worn on the night when she was seen by the triumphant tailor. This startling and overwhelming corroboration of the truth of the 'fama' quite nonplussed the minister, and as the story has it, before the next Sunday he and his lady were 'owre the Borders an' awa'.'"(11)