Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/45

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[ tune called "Donald Couper" is very old, and it can be traced back at least as far as the middle of the 17th century. The following words from Johnson's Musical Museum, Part IV., 1792, appear a mere fragment.]

[ first verse and chorus of this song are by. The last verse but one is by Motherwell. The other stanzas are by Mr. Gibson, teacher, Greenock. R. A. Smith, who possessed Tannahill's fragment, set it to a Highland air, which he took down from the voice of a country girl in Arran.]

[ forms the opening song of Gentle Shepherd. The "waukin' o' the fauld" alludes to the old pastoral practice of watching the sheepfolds at night, during the weaning of the lambs, on which occasions the shepherd was generally favoured with the company of his sweetheart.]

Peggie is a young thing,

Just enter'd in her teens,

Fair as the day, and sweet as May,

Fair as the day, and always gay:

My Peggy is a young thing,

And I'm nae very auld,

Yet weel I like to meet her at

The wauking o' the fauld.

My Peggy speaks sae sweetly

Whene'er we meet alane,

I wish nae mair to lay my care,

I wish nae mair o' a' that's rare:

My Peggy speaks sae sweetly,

To a' the lave I'm cauld;

But she gars a' my spirits glow

At wauking o' the fauld.

My Peggy smiles sae kindly

Whene'er I whisper love,

That I look down on a' the town,

That I look down upon a crown:

My Peggy smiles sae kindly,

It makes me blythe and bauld,

And naething gi'es me sic delight,

As wauking o' the fauld.

My Peggy sings sae saftly,

When on my pipe I play;

By a' the rest it is confest,

By a' the rest that she sings best