Child Ballads - Additions and Corrections

33. Kempy Kay

P. 301. A was communicated to C.K. Sharpe by Robert Pitcairn with the stanzas in the order printed by Sharpe. The arrangement in A would seem, therefore, to have been an afterthought of Pitcairn's. There is some slight difference of reading, also, in Pitcairn's Manuscript, and one defect is supplied. The variations in the copy sent Sharpe are (besides the order, as aforesaid) as follows:

2¹. I 'm coming.
2⁴. o weir.
3⁴. three heire wanting.
4⁴. Shone.
5². bruchty.
5³. the night.
6³. And in.
7⁴. Between.
9⁴. a lintseed bow (with the variant a bruchtit ewe).
10¹. lauchty.
10⁴. A' wanting.
12³. teeth into.
13². sheets (no doubt erroneously). A stanza between 8 and 9 is noted as deficient, and something after 13.

303. C. In a copy of C sent Sharpe by Motherwell in a letter of December 6, 1824, the fourth stanza is lacking, the fifth is third.

3². span: years.
5². stool.

'Knip Knap,' taken down in the summer of 1893 by Mr. Walker, of Aberdeen, at Portlethen, from the singing of an old man, as learned more than fifty years before from an old blacksmith at Dyce, near Aberdeen.

1	Knip Knap a hunting went, Out-ower the head o yon hill, aye, aye Wi a lust o pig-staves out-oer his shouther, An mony a dulchach forby, aye, aye
2	There he met an old woman, Was herdin at her kye; 'I 'm come yer ae dochter to woo,' 'She's a very good servant,' said I.
3	The wife gaed hame to her ain hole-house, Lookit in at her ain spunk-hole, An there she saw her ain foul flag, Loupin across the coal.
4	'Win up, win up, my ae foul flag, An mak yer foul face clean, For yer wooer is comin here the nicht, But yer foul face canna be seen, na, na'
5	She's taen the sheave- wisps out o her sheen, An in behint the door, An she has faen to the stale strang, Seven year auld an more.
6	An aye she scrubbit, an aye she weesh, Out-ower the pint o her chin, Till a knip-knap cam to the door, She kent it was her wooer.
7	He's taen her in his airms twa, Kissd her cheek an chin: 'An I hae gotten kisses twa, Whaur I never thocht to get ane.'
8	The verra hair was in her head Was like the heather-cowe, An ilka louse at the reet o that Was like a brockit ewe.
9	The verra ee was in her head Was like a muckle pan, The hunkers and clunkers that hang frae her sheen Wad hae covered an acre o lan.
10	The verra teeth was in her head Was like a tether's check, An the sneeters and snotters that hang frae her nose Wad a gart a frozen mill gang.
11	The verra tongue was in her head Wad been a guid mill-clap, . . . . . .
12	. . . . . . An ye may know very weel by that She was a comely woman.

P. 300. I have serious doubts whether this offensive ballad has not been made too important; whether, notwithstanding the points noted at p. 301, it is anything more than a variety of 'The Queen of all Sluts.'

305 b. A 10¹. lauchty in Sharpe with a line drawn in ink through l (probably by the editor, as this is a presentation copy).

V, 213 a. Since we have Pitcairn's copy only in Sharpe's handwriting, we cannot determine which of the two made the changes.

To be Corrected in the Print.

305 b, notes, 10¹. tauchty, etc. Drop.

Supplementary

303, D 5, taipy-tapples. The Manuscript has saipy-sapples.

This page most recently updated on 30-May-2011, 13:08:21.
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