Digital Tradition Mirror

I Ken Something

I Ken Something

     1.
     I ken something that I'll no tell,
     A' the lasses o' our town are cruppen in a shell,
     Except the Flower o' [Hamilton], and she's cruppen out,
     [And she has a wee bairn, wi' a dish-clout.]
     Some ca't the kittlin, and some ca't the cat,
     And some ca't the little boy wi' the straw hat.
     The boy gaed to her daddie, to seek a wee piece,
     But he took up the airn tangs, and hit it i' the teeth;
     It roared and it grat--gang down to the corse,
     And see the Flower o' [Hamilton] riding on a horse.

     2.
     I've found something that I'll no tell,
     A' the lads o' our town clockin' in a shell,
     A' but [Willie Johnston], and he's cruppen out,
     And he will have [Susie Kerr] without ony doubt;
     He kissed and clappit her, he's pared a' her nails,
     He made her a gown o' peacock tails:
     Baith coal and candle ready to burn,
     And they're to be married the morn's afternoon.
     ________________________________________________________

     (1) and (2) Chambers PRS (1847), 257; (1870), 119 [note
     C.'s square brackets in line 4, which probably means a
     bowdlerisation]; and SC 78, 85 ("I fand somethin").  A
     rhyme "intended to convey an insinuation against the
     presumedly prettiest young maiden of the party, usually
     called `the Flower' of her place of residence".  Cf. "In
     came the daddy o't", "Halloween, ae night at e'en".
     What may be another (fragmentary) version is in
     Maclagan, GDA (1901), 254: "I ken something, I'll not
     tell;/ All the birdies in the town cam' to ring the
     bell." Var. of this in Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11),
     51: "I've found something, I'll no tell,/ A' the birdies
     i' the air Canna ring a bell"; MacLennan SNR (1909), 19:
     "I see something, an' I sanna tell,/ A' the dogs o'
     Kirriemuir canna ring the bell"; Rodger Lang Strang
     (1948), 17: "I ken something I'll no' tell,/ A' the dogs
     in Edinburgh canna ring a bell."

MS
oct97

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

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