United States or Zimbabwe ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It made me think, sometimes, of the Hielands of Scotland. A bonnie land, and braw are its people. They made me happy there, and they made much of me. At Christchurch they did a strange thing. They were selling off, at auction, a Union Jack the flag of Britain. Such a thing had never been done before, or thought of. But here was a reason and a good one.
"I'll gie you dog's wages, ye rascal, if ye dinna attend to what I say t'ye We are gaun into the Hielands a bit" "I judged as muckle," said Andrew. "Haud your peace, ye knave, and hear what I have to say till ye We are gaun a bit into the Hielands" "Ye tauld me sae already," replied the incorrigible Andrew. "I'll break your head," said the Bailie, rising in wrath, "if ye dinna haud your tongue."
The achievement of Robert Oig, or young Rob Roy, as the Lowlanders called him, was celebrated in a ballad, of which there are twenty different and various editions. The tune is lively and wild, and we select the following words from memory: Rob Roy is frae the Hielands come, Down to the Lowland border; And he has stolen that lady away, To haud his house in order.
"Troth is there," said the landlord; "your honour is right, there is sic a fleeing rumour; but, in my puir opinion, it's lang or the deil die. I wad hae the folks here look to themsells. If he makes an outbreak, he'll be doun frae the Hielands or I could drink this glass, and whare are they then? A' thae hell-rakers o' dragoons wad be at his whistle in a moment.
"Ah!" says he, falling again to smiling, "I got my wastefulness from the same man I got the buttons from; and that was my poor father, Duncan Stewart, grace be to him! He was the prettiest man of his kindred; and the best swordsman in the Hielands, David, and that is the same as to say, in all the world, I should ken, for it was him that taught me.
There's many a lying sneck-draw sits close in kirk in our own part of the country, and stands well in the world's eye, and maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Balfour, than yon misguided shedder of man's blood. Ay, ay, we might take a lesson by them. Ye'll perhaps think I've been too long in the Hielands?" he added, smiling to me.
The girl in the bed lay motionless, absorbed, listening. This was sweet music indeed. Could she have believed it possible that Hollyhock could put such marvellous tenderness into her wonderful voice? 'Ye Hielands and ye Lowlands, Oh! where hae ye been! They hae slain the Earl o' Murray, And hae laid him on the green.
There's many a lying sneck-draw sits close in kirk in our own part of the country, and stands well in the world's eye, and maybe is a far worse man, Mr. Balfour, than yon misguided shedder of man's blood. Ay, ay, we might take a lesson by them. Ye'll perhaps think I've been too long in the Hielands?" he added, smiling to me.
'I wot weel, Mr. Wauverley, and that was she e'en; but sair, sair angry and affronted wad she hae been, puir thing, if she had thought ye had been ever to ken a word about the matter; for she gar'd me speak aye Gaelic when ye was in hearing, to mak ye trow we were in the Hielands. I can speak it weil eneugh, for my mother was a Hieland woman.
This was it," said he, and whistled me the air. "And then, besides," he continued, "it's no sae bad now as it was in forty-six. The Hielands are what they call pacified. Small wonder, with never a gun or a sword left from Cantyre to Cape Wrath, but what tenty* folk have hidden in their thatch! But what I would like to ken, David, is just how long?
Word Of The Day