Chapter III

The early tatties had come in When Tammas's besettin' sin, A love o' a' this warld's gude things An' a' the pleesures eatin' brings, Gar'd him hae sic a bad mischeef It fleggit him ayont belief! Pay-Saturday it was, I mind, An' Jean, intendin' to be kind, Had biled the firstlins o' her yaird (For naethin' else Tam wud hae sair'd), Sae when they cam' frae Jean's clean pat, Altho' they seemed a trifle wat, Tam in his hunger ate a meal That wud hae staw'd the big black Deil, Syne at his cutty had a draw, Syne gantit wi' wide-open jaw, An' aince his heid was on the cod, He sune was in the land o' Nod.