[Footnote 9:  Whoever would, with success, try this spell, must strictly observe these directions:  Steal out, all alone, to the kiln, and darkling, throw into the “pot” a clue of blue yarn; wind it in a new clue off the old one; and, toward the latter end, something will hold the thread:  demand, “Wha hauds?” i.e., who holds? and answer will be returned from the kiln-pot, by naming the Christian and surname of your future spouse.—­R.B.]

     An’ ay she win’t, an’ ay she swat—­
     I wat she made nae jaukin;
     Till something held within the pat,
     Good Lord! but she was quaukin! 
     But whether ’twas the deil himsel,
     Or whether ‘twas a bauk-en’,
     Or whether it was Andrew Bell,
     She did na wait on talkin
     To spier that night.

     Wee Jenny to her graunie says,
     “Will ye go wi’ me, graunie? 
     I’ll eat the apple at the glass,^10
     I gat frae uncle Johnie:” 
     She fuff’t her pipe wi’ sic a lunt,
     In wrath she was sae vap’rin,
     She notic’t na an aizle brunt
     Her braw, new, worset apron
     Out thro’ that night.

[Footnote 10:  Take a candle and go alone to a looking-glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say you should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjungal companion, to be, will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder.—­R.B.]

     “Ye little skelpie-limmer’s face! 
     I daur you try sic sportin,
     As seek the foul thief ony place,
     For him to spae your fortune: 
     Nae doubt but ye may get a sight! 
     Great cause ye hae to fear it;
     For mony a ane has gotten a fright,
     An’ liv’d an’ died deleerit,
     On sic a night.

     “Ae hairst afore the Sherra-moor,
     I mind’t as weel’s yestreen—­
     I was a gilpey then, I’m sure
     I was na past fyfteen: 
     The simmer had been cauld an’ wat,
     An’ stuff was unco green;
     An’ eye a rantin kirn we gat,
     An’ just on Halloween
     It fell that night.

     “Our stibble-rig was Rab M’Graen,
     A clever, sturdy fallow;
     His sin gat Eppie Sim wi’ wean,
     That lived in Achmacalla: 
     He gat hemp-seed,^11 I mind it weel,
     An’he made unco light o’t;
     But mony a day was by himsel’,
     He was sae sairly frighted
     That vera night.”

[Footnote 11:  Steal out, unperceived, and sow a handful of hemp-seed, harrowing it with anything you can conveniently draw after you.  Repeat now and then:  “Hemp-seed, I saw thee, hemp-seed, I saw thee; and him (or her) that is to be my true love, come after me and pou thee.”  Look over your left shoulder, and you will see the appearance of the person invoked, in the attitude of pulling hemp.  Some traditions say, “Come after me and shaw thee,”