Page:History of Buckhaven.pdf/10

10 Willie, for I have a muckle wame, an' I fear it's o'er true. O plague on you, Janet! for ye're the father o't. Very soon after this, Witty Eppie was sent for as she was the howdy, and she fand a' Willie's wame to be sure about it. Indeed, co' Eppie, ye're the first man e'er I saw wi' bairn before an' how ye'll bear I dinna ken. Ye hae a wally wame, weel I wat, but how inen bears bairns I dinna ken. But I would drink salt water and drown it in my guts: for if men get ance the gate o' bearing weans themselves, they'll seek nae mair wives. So Willie drank sea water till his guts was like to rive, and out he got to ease himself in the kailyard, and with the terrible noise of his farting, up started a maukin behind him, who thought it was shot; Willie seeing her jump o'er the dyke, thought it was a child brought forth, and cries out. Come back my clear, and be christened, and dinna rin ito the hills to be a Pagan. So Millie grew better every day thereafter, being brought to bed in the kail-yard, but his daughter was brought to bed some months after, which was the cause of the doctor's mistake.