FASSERES. ( 240 ) CORVID^. 



THE RAVEN. 



CROW, CORBY OR CORBIE. 



Gorvus corax. 

 %^t Corbie. 



Oivre the moor, near yonder kirk, ^ 

 We 'II set the fagots in a lowe. 



And wrap the hags in tar a7id towe ; 

 And there we winna let them shirk, 

 Btit scouther them wi' broom and birk, 



Bleezin on the Witches' Knowe,- 



Bleezin' round ilk hoary pow. 

 How the hags will girn and gape ; 

 Satan, in a Corbie' s shape. 

 Will come and take his pets away — 

 Sic a bleeze we 'II hae that day. 



Popular Rhymes of Berwickshire. 



In former ages the Eaven was considered to be a bird of 

 ill-omen, and in Berwickshire it was of such evil repute, 

 that it was even supposed that the devil himself sometimes 

 appeared in the shape of a Corbie. It was also associated 

 in the popular imagination with death, and dead bodies ; and 



^ The old "kerke" of Lambertou, in the parish of Mordington. Here the 

 Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry vii. of England, was betrothed to James 

 IV. of Scotland, on 1st August 1502. A full account of the proceedings at the 

 "kerke" on this occasion is given in Carr's History of Coldingham Priory, pp. 

 39-42. Only a small portion of the ancient walls is now standing. 



2 A small round hill about half-a-mile westward from the ruins of Lamberton 

 Kirk. Here, tradition says, two witches were burned about the beginning of 

 last century. They are supposed to have been the last who suffered for the 

 crime of witchcraft previous to the enactment of George ii. in 1722.— Carr's 

 History of Coldingham Priory, p. 147- 



