Page:Ancient and modern history of Buck-haven in Fife-shire (5).pdf/12

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catch'd in a net a' your pith will neather hang ner drown him, and the country he comes frae is a het coals he‘ll never burn, we‘ll go to him in a civil man. net and fee what he wants; Get out Eppie the ale- wife, and lingie tail’d Nancy, wi the Bible and the Saum book, fo aff they came in a crowd, either to kill the devil or catch him alive, and as they, came near the place the afa fell a crying, which cauied ma- ny of them to faint and run back : Na, na, co Willy that's no the devils words ava, it‘s my Lord's trum- peter, touting on his brafs whiftle, Will ventured till he faw the ala's twa lugs, now, cried Will back to the reft. Come foreward and had him faft, I fee his twa hours a hech sirs, he has a white beard like an auld beggar man, fo they inclofed the poor afs on all fides, thinking it was the devil, but hen Wife Wily faw he had nae cloven feet, lie cried out, Fearna lads,this is no the devil, it’s fome living beaft, ‘tis neither a cow nor a horfe, and what is it then Willy ? indeed co' Willy ‘tis the father o'a' the maukens ken by it's lags.. Now fome fays: thit is two fatrical a hiftory,but it's according to the knowledge of thofe times, not to fay in any place by ; mother, old wives will yet tell us of many fuch ftories as the devil appearing to their grand- fathers and grand mothers, and dead wives coming gain to vifit their families long after their being bu- ried: but this Buckhaven which was once noted for droll exploits is now become more knowing, and as a place faid to produce the beft and hardieft waterman of failors of any town on the Scots coaft; many of the old people in it ftill retain the old tincture of their o’d and uncultivated fpeech, as be go laddie, alfo of a fiery nature if you afk any of the wives where their college ftands, they‘ll tell you if your nofe were in their arfe, your mouth world be at the door of it. Now it happened, when Wife Willy turned old,