Katharine Lee Bates

The Wee Wee Man

As I was wa'king all alane,
  Between a water and a wa',
There I spy'd a wee wee man,
  And he was the least that e'er I saw.

His legs were scant a shathmont's length,
  And sma' and limber was his thie,
Between his e'en there was a span,
  And between his shoulders there was 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 couldna liften't to my knee.

"O wee wee man, but thou be strang!
  O tell me where thy dwelling be?"
"My dwelling's down at yon bonny bower;
  O will you go with me and see?"

On we lap, and awa' we rade,
  Till we cam' to yon bonny green;
We lighted down for to bait our horse,
  And out there cam' a lady sheen.

Four and twenty at her back,
  And they were a' clad out in green,
Though the King o' Scotland had been there,
  The warst o' them might hae been his Queen.

On we lap, and awa' we rade,
  Till we cam' to yon bonny ha',
Where the roof was o' the beaten gowd,
  And the floor was o' the crystal a'.

When we cam' to the stair foot,
  Ladies were dancing, jimp and sma';
But in the twinkling of an e'e,
  My wee wee man was clean awa'.