Page:History of Buckhaven in Fifeshire.pdf/9

 saw he hadnae cloven feet, he cried put, Scarna, lads, this is no the deil, it's some living beast; it's neither cow nor horse. And what is't then, Willie? Indeed, quo' Willie, it's the father o' the maukins, I ken by his lang lugs.

Now, some say this history is too satirical; but it is according to the knowledge of those times, not to say one place by another. The old wives will tell you yet, of many such stories of the devil appearing to their grandfathers and grandmothers, and dead wives coming back again to visit their families long after being dead. So this Buckhaven was once noted for droll exploits; but it is now become more known, and is a place that produces the hardiest sailors of any town on the Scots coast. Yet many of the old people in it still retain the old tincture of their ancient and uncultivated speech, such as Be-go laddie; they are also of a fiery nature, for if you ask any of the wives where their College stands, they'll tell you, if your nose was in their a—e, your mouth would be at the door of it.