A Waukrife Minnie [A wakeful mother]- M. Crosbie (Dumf) c.1788 Burns
[From The Poetical Works of Robert Burns: Reprinted from the Best Editions. The identity of the "country girl" is revealed in Cromek's 'Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song,' 1810, which has a song "Oh who is this under my window'. The first half of the headnote is:
"This old song is taken down from the singing of Martha Crosbie, from whose recitation Burns wrote down the song of "The Waukrife Minnie."
Martha Crosbie also entertained young Alan Cunningham at his father's house. Although Cunningham does not mention her as Burns' source, he says in 1925, "I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations." Cunningham adds "I believe it to be a very old song." He adds two stanzas one of which he claims to be the end stanza but it is the penultimate stanza. Burn brief notes follow.
R. Mattteson 2018]
I PICKED up this old song and tune from a country girl in Nithsdale. I never met with it elsewhere in Scotland:
A Waukrife Minnie- Sung by Martha Crosbie of Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire, c. 1788, collected with emendations by Robert Burns
Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass?
Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?
She answered me right saucilie?
An errand for my minnie.
O, whare live ye, my bonnie lass?
O, where live ye, my hinnie?
By yon burn-side, gin ye maun ken,
In a wee house wi' my minnie.
But I foor up the glen at e'en,
To see my bonnie lassie;
And lang before the grey morn cam'
She was na hauf sae saucie.
O, weary fa the waukrife cock,
And the foumart lay his crawin'!
He waukened the auld wife frae her sleep,
A wee blink or the dawin.
An angry wife I wat she raise,
And o'er the bed she brought her;
And with a mickle hazel rung
She made her a weel-payed dochter.
O, fare thee weel, my bonnie lass,
O, fare thee weel, my hinnie :
Thou art a gay and a bonnie lass,
But thou hast a waukrife minnie.
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A Wakeful Mother (a translation)- Collected by Burns from Martha Crosbie, a carder and spinner of wool, circa 1788.
"Where are you going, my bonnie lass?
Where are you going, my honey?'
She answered me right saucily: -
"An errand for my mother!"
"O, where live you, my bonnie lass?
O, where live you, my honey?"
"By yon stream side, if you must know,
In a little house with my mother."
But I went up the glen at evening
To see my bonnie lassie,
And long before the grey morn came
She was not half so saucy.
O, woe befall the wakeful cock,
And the polecat stop his crowing!
He awakened the old woman from her sleep
A little bit before the dawning.
An angry wife I know she rose,
And out of the bed she brought her,
And with a big hazel switch
She made her a well-punished daughter.
'O, fare-thee-well, my bonnie lass!
O, fare-thee-well, my honey!
You are a gay and a bonnie lass,
But you have a wakeful mother!'