Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/385

 Col/ectauca. 353

Nursery Tales and Children's Songs.

Thi Ban nock ie ^

A mannie and a wifie pit oot a bannockie to dry, an' it ran owre the hills an' owre the hills till it cam to twa waal washers. '' Fat a bonny bannockie," they said : "far cam ye fae?"

"I cam fae a wee wee wifie an' a far less mannie, an' noo I've come to you."

They flung their tubs at it ; an' it ran owre the hills an' owre the hills till it cam to twa barn thrashers. " Fat a bonny ban- nockie," they said : " far cam ye fae ? "

" I cam fae a wee wee wifie an' a far less mannie, twa waal washers, an' noo I've come to you."'

They flung their flails at it ; an' it ran owre the hills an' owre the hills till it cam to a mannie an' his clogs. " Fat a bonny bannockie," he said : " far cam ye fae ? "

" I cam fae a wee wee wifie an' a far less mannie, twa waal washers, twa barn thrashers, an' noo I've come to you."

He flung his clogs at it ; an' it ran owre the hills an' owre the hills till it cam to a shepherd and his dogs. " Fat a bonny bannockie," he said : "far cam ye fae.'' "'

"I cam fae a wee wee wifie an' a far less mannie, twa waal washers, twa barn thrashers, a mannie an' his clogs, an' noo I've come to you."

He set his dogs at it ; an' it ran owre the hills an' owre the hills till it cam to a tod in the burn. " Fat a bonny bannockie," it said : " far cam ye fae ? "

" I cam fae a wee wee wifie an' a far less mannie, twa waal washers, twa barn thrashers, a mannie an' his clogs, a shepherd an' his dogs, an' noo I've come to you."

The tod shook its tail at it ; an' it ran owre the hills an' owre the hills till it cam to a craw on the dyke. " Fat a bonny bannockie," it said : " far cam ye fae ? '

^Three versions of "The Wee Bannock," from Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, and Selkirkshire, are given in Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland. The Aberdeenshire one is the only one where the bannock survives its visit to the tod (fox). — Cniden.