LL-L "Rituals" 2002.01.08 (04) [E/S]

Wed Jan 9 00:11:05 UTC 2002

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Rituals"

In reading through some old magazines for Scots rhymes to put up
on my website, I've come across a surprising new literary form
(well, it's very old, but new to me!) called "Cobblin Graces". I
didn't know what "cobbling" was in this context, but checking it
in the SND it seems that in the old days when shepherds met to do
any business such as clipping or milking, certain contractual
guidelines were agreed on by word of mouth, and any shepherd who
tried to break any of the guidelines received a "cobbling" -
meaning he was held on the ground while the others beat him on
the backside to the rhythm of a "Cobblin Grace" until he agreed
to toe the line!

Later, this became popular with schoolboys, and the correspondent
to the magazine, published in February 1907, describes the "cobbling"
ritual of his time as a response to one of the boys having farted,
whereupon one of the others would take hold of him by the ears and
recite a "Cobblin Grace" while the others beat him. Three versions
are quoted, but no further explanation is given. Here they are, with
my glossary and notes interpreting them as far as I understand them.
Can anybody suggest anything about the stuff I don't understand?

Does anyone know of anything similar in Scots or other traditions?

The Cobblin Grace (I)

Aa ye mairit men, 'tween threescore year an ten,
That disna attend this cobblin'll be cobbled ower again;
Wi the rug, wi the tug, wi the weel-pou'd lug;
That dug o Andra Morrison's, he sits afore the poupit
Neeb-neeb-nabblin at his cods,
He'll aither gar me lauch or stick the preachin,
But ye can hund him up the lang loan, or doun bi Nellie Morrison's;
Dinna miss a stroke, but kill him if ye can,
For he ett aa Johnnie McFushie-caa-it's peys;
No juist that, he pished amang the strae,
That wis a great sin:
Ye hunder, ye dunder, ye great goose horn,
Here a tift, there a tift, amang the laird's corn:
An X an an E, an an auld aiple tree,
Whistle Jock, an ye'll get free.

(or:
Rug weel, tug weel, Jock weel free.)

rug - tug or pull viciously
lug - ear
dug - dog
poupit - pulpit
Neeb-neeb-nabblin - I assume to be Scots present continuous for "nibbling"
gar - to cause to
lang loan - long lane
McFushie-caa-it - presumably "McWhatjama-call-him"?
peys [p(h)@iz] - a Borders pronounciation of "peas"
strae - straw
hunder - "hundred" - but perhaps "hounder"? (See verb "hund" earlier)
goose horn - not sure what a "goose horn" is: the sound a goose makes,
perhaps?
X, E - I've no idea what these letters are meant to signify.

The Cobblin Grace (II)

Call-a-cob, maraline,
Cast a barrel in a string,
Aa them at winna come tae this call-a-cob
Shall be weel call-a-cobbled ower again
Wi the rug, an the tug, an the grey grace horn,
Here a tug, there, amang the laird's corn:
Whistle, an A'll lat gae.

This one is a complete mystery to me, I've no idea what the following mean:

maraline - just a nonsense word? Is it a corruption of something that
           originally rhymed properly with "string"?
cast a barrel in a string - nonsense again?
grey grace horn - it looks like "grace horn" and "goose horn"
                  are different forms of the same phrase,
                  suggesting to me that these are all just
                  corruptions of some earlier rhyme that
                  perhaps made more sense.

The Cobblin Grace (III)

Jock, John, Jeely, Jam,
He cam linkin ower dam,
Ower dam, ower dyke,
Trip o ma tailie,
Tail-ie an richt knot,
Dear bocht, dear saul',
She keepit sheep o green faul';
As sheep sae did she swine,
They caad her faither Lord Lyne,
Lord Lyne, tilly tackit,
Hairy hal' his mither nakit;
Mither nakit tho she be,
Tho aa the limbs a limmer tee,
Limmer tee, limmer ta,
Jeanie Fyke stoo'd the tail fae my tyke!

I can't make much of this either, although one interesting
thing is that while rhyme (I) has what seems to me to be a
Borders pronunciation of "peas", this rhyme seems to be
North-Eastern with forms like "-aul'" and "tee" (for "to").
On the other hand, the "Johnnie McFushie-caa-it" of rhyme
(I) also suggests a North-Eastern pronunciation, so this
and the Borders "peys" needs to be resolved somehow.
Unfortunately, the contributer is named as "Will. Findlay,
Edinburgh", which only makes it more confusing!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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