Iíve a wonderful story to tell,
Gin folk wad but listen to me;
Though I speak from my horrible cell,
That ance lay at the grund oí the sea.
Iím noo on the bree oí the hill,
For my house has been drifted about,
By the winds and the waves at their will
Yet I never could find my way out.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc.
Ben Nevis it ance was my hame,
Though noo Iím on Berwick Law tap;
I hae rambled throí flood and throí flame,
Without ony serious mishap.
Two thousand land years and mair
Hae baith seen the bloom aní the bud
Siní I was shut in frae the air,
In my smug little dungeon oí mud.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc.
I hae feasted on little siní then,
Aní Iím ready to gie my aith
Before ony body oí men,
That Iíve scarcely eíen drawn my breath.
The very last meal that I gobbled
Was a worm an inch in length
Yet Nature my frame has sae cobbled
That I never hae failed in my strength.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc.
íTis true that Iím fond oí the dark
Yet I sigh for the light oí the day;
Aní the mellow toned notes oí the lark,
When it sings in the mornís first ray.
Yet I think I hae ëscaped mony ills
Siní I cam to this honeyless hive
For here thereís naething that kills,
If thereís naething to keep me alive.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc. |
Some chiel wií a big knappiní hammer,
Ae day gaíe my stane sic a fell,
That I raised sic a horrible clamour,
He eíen thought it was Sawney himselí;
He fledó but the hammer he drappit,
With whilk he was breakiní my stane;
Syne my stane I rowíd on the tap oító
Aní noo itís a fossil remain.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc.
The hills and the howes hae aft flitted,
Like toads on the breast oí a pool,
Siní round me my prison was fitted,
Without ony compass or rule.
Terodactyles aní big reptile Fishes,
Iíve seen in their glory aní prime,
Wha aft on my frienís made sic dishes,
As perished a tribe at a time.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc.
Great mammoths wií bodies prodigious,
Iíve seen on the face oí the yirth,
And Krakins sae fearfuí aní hideous,
That shook the hale warld in their mirth.
Aligators wií teeth like a whittle,
Aní tails that could wallop the moon,
Wií skins like the hardest oí metal,
To hap their big bodies aírouní.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc.
Mony things I hae seen unrelated,
Lang syne when I wandered abroad,
Aní a story may not be inflated,
Though itís told by a hard liviní toad.
Aní those who are anxious to hear themó
Strange things oí the times that are gane,
May come when theyíve time, aní just speer them,
Aní lay their lugs close to my stane.
O, I am a merry old Toad, etc. |
