As I was walking all alone, Between a water and a wa'; And there I spy'd a wee wee man, And he was the least that e'er I saw. His legs were scarce a shathmont's length, And thick and thimber were his thighs, Between his brows there was a span, And between his shoulders there were three. He took up a meikle stane, And he flang't as far as I could see, Though I had been a Wallace wight I coudna liften't to my knee; O wee wee man, but thou be strong, O tell me where thy dwelling be? My dwelling's down at yon bonnie bower, O will you go with me and see? On we lap and awa we rade, Till we came to yon bonnie green; We lighted down for to bait our horse, And out there came a lady fine. Four and twenty at her back, And they were a' clad out in green: Tho' the King of Scotland had been there, The warst o' them might ha' been his queen. On we lap and awa we rade, Till we came to yon bonnie ha', Where the roof was o' the beaten goud, And the floor was o' the crystal a'. When we came to the stair foot, Ladies were dancing jimp and sma'; But in the twinkling of an eye, My wee wee man was clean awa'.
Wee = little, small
A shathmont's length = the distance between the tip of the extended
thumb and the knuckle of the little finger in the closed
fist, equivalent to a length of six inches
Thimber = heavy
A span = the distance between the end of the thumb and the end of the
little finger when the fingers are extended, equivalent to a length of
nine inches
Meikle = large
Wallace wight = courageous warrior (A reference to the strength and
bravery of soldiers in the army of William Wallace (1272-1305), who
defeated Edward I at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1298)
Lap = leapt
Bait = feed
Goud = gold
Jimp = slender, graceful
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "The wee wee man", Hob. XXXIa no. 124, JHW. XXXII/2 no. 124. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-25
Line count: 32
Word count: 232