106 THE WREN. 



When in cam Robin Redbreist, 



Redbreist, Redbreist ; 

 When in cam Robin Redbreist, 



Wi' succar-saps and wine, 0. 



" Now, maiden, will ye taste o' this, 

 Taste o' this, taste o' this ; 

 Now, maiden, will ye taste o' this ? 

 'Tis succar-saps and wine, 0." 



" Na, ne'er a drap, Robin, 

 Robin, Robin ; 

 Na, ne'er a drap, Robin, 



Though it were ne'er so fine, 0." 



" And where 's the ring that I gied ye. 

 That I gied ye, that I gied ye ; 

 And where 's the ring that I gied ye, 

 Ye little cutty quean, 0." 



" I gied it till an Ox-ee, 



An Ox-ee, an Ox-ee, 



I gied it till an Ox-ee, 



A true sweetheart o' mine, O." 



The Eobin and the Wren, however, do not seem to have been 

 quite free from occasional matrimonial difficulties, as the 

 following quatrain attests — 



The Robin Redbreast and the Wran, 

 Coost out about the parritch pan. 

 And ere the Robin got a spime. 

 The Wran she had the parritch dune.^ 



The Wren appears to have enjoyed some of the reverence^ 

 paid to the Eobin by boys with regard to the harrying of its 

 nest, and in some country places in Scotland they repeat the 

 following malediction — 



Malisons, malisons mair than ten, 

 That harry the Ladye o' Heaven's hen ! 



for such is the name given to our favourite by boys, even 



1 See Popular Rhymes of Scotland, by R. Chambers. 



2 The Wren had a sacred character amongst our Celtic ancestors. — Hen- 

 derson's Folk Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 125. 



