Six Eggs in the Pot
There's six eggs in the pot, guidman,
There's six eggs in the pot, guidman;
There's ane for you, and twa for me,
And three for our John Hielandman.
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Chambers PRS (1847), 185. This is the first stanza of a
rather suggestive song in SMM V (1796), 421 (no. 409):
O an ye were dead, Gudeman,
A green turf on your head, gudeman,
I wad bestow my widowhood
Upon a rantin' Highlandman. [text ranton]
There's sax eggs in the pan, gudeman,
There's sax eggs in the pan, gudeman;
There's ane to you, and twa to me,
And three to our John Highlandman.
O an ye [&c.]
A sheep's head's in the pot, gudeman,
A sheep's head's in the pot, gudeman;
The flesh to him, the broo to me,
An' the horns become your brow, gudeman.
Sing round about the fire wi' a rung she ran,
An' round about the fire wi' a rung she ran:
Your horns shall tie you to the staw,
And I shall bang your hide, gudeman.
Sharpe (Ballad Book, 1823, 64, xxii) omits the first stanza,
and has a variant 2nd chorus, slightly different in his
Additional Illus. to SMM (p. *439): 3rd line repeats 2nd, and
4th is "Saying--`Haud awa' your blue breeks frae me,
gudeman'." Stenhouse (Illus. 366-7) has a longer version,
adapted by Chambers in SSPB (1862), 181-2. It is quite likely
that the flesh (beef in other versions) means "vulva", and
the broo, "semen". The horns refer to cuckoldry, of course.
St. 2 & 3 of SMM text (eggs, sheep) in MacLennan SNR (1909),
19 ["There's a sheep's heid/ The banes . . . the broo/ An'
the beef"].
The tune is in Oswald, CPC (1752), iv p. 24, as I wish that
you were dead, goodman. Dick (Songs, 446) notes that the
first part of the tune resembles the second phrase of The
Duke of Buccleuch's Tune in Apollo's Banquet (6th ed., 1690),
and appears complete, with both strains, in The Dancing
Master, 1709, as The Fiddler's Morris. Also in Macfarlane
MS., 1741; McGibbon's Third Coll. as Watson's Scots Measure;
and McGlashan's Scots Measures (1781), 7, under the same
title. It is now the vehicle for Burns's song about himself,
"There was a lad was born in Kyle".
MS
oct96
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!