Tam o' Shanter. -- A Tale. --
Aloway-kirk, the scene of the following Poem, is an
old Ruin in Ayr-shire, hard by the great road
from Ayr to Maybole, on the banks of the river,
Doon, & near the old bridge of that name. --
A Drawing of this Ruin will make its
appearance in Grose's antiquities of Scotland. --
When chapmen billies leave the street,
And drouthy neebors neebors meet,
As market-days are wearing late,
And folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bowsing at the nappy,
And getting fou, & unco happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps & stiles,
That lie between us & our hame,
Where sits our sulky, sullen dame,
Gathering
Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm. ----
This truth fand honest Tam o' Shanter,
As he frae Ayr ae night did canter,
(Auld Ayr wham ne'er a town surpasses
For honest men & bonie lasses. --)
O Tam! hadst thou but been sae wise
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,
A bletherin, blusterin, drunken blellum;
That, frae November till October,
Ae market-day thou was na sober;
That ilka melder wi' the Miller,
Thou sat as lang as thou had siller;
That every naig was ca'd a shoe on,
The Smith & thee gat roarin fou on;
That at the L--d's house even on Sunday,
Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday. --
She, She
She prophesied that, late or soon,
Thou wad be found deep drown'd in Doon;
Or catch'd wi' warlocks in the mirk
By Aloway's auld haunted kirk. ----
Ah, gentle Dames! it gars me greet,
To think how mony counsels sweet,
How mony lengthen'd, sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises!
But to our Tale: ae Market-night,
Tam had got planted unco right,
Fast by an ingle bleezing finely,
Wi' reamin swats that drank divinely;
And at his elbow, Souter Johnie,
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony;
Tam lo'ed him like a very brither
They had been fou for weeks thegither. ----
The night drave on wi' sangs & clatter,
And ay the ale was growing better:
The
The Landlady & Tam grew gracious,
Wi' favors, secret, sweet & precious
The Souter tauld his queerest stories;
The Landlord's laugh was ready chorus;
The storm without might rair & rustle,
Tam did na mind the storm a whistle. ---
Care, mad to see a man sae happy,
E'en drown'd himsel amang the nappy.--
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure. --
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious;
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious!
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white -- then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or
;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm. --
Nae man can tether Time nor Tide,
The hour approaches Tam maun ride;
That hour o' night's black arch the key-stane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in,
And sic a night he taks the road in
As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in. ----
The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy gleams the darkness swallow'd;
Loud, deep & lang, the thunder bellow'd:
That night, a child might understand
The deil had business on his hand. --
Weel mounted on his grey meare, Meg,
A better never lifted leg,
Tam skelpit on thro' dub & mire,
Despising wind, and rain, & fire;
Whyles
Whyles holding fast his gude blue bonnet,
Whyles crooning o'er an auld Scots sonnet;
Whyles glowering round wi' prudent cares,
Lest bogles catch him unawares;
Kirk-Aloway was drawing nigh,
Where ghaists & houlets nightly cry. --
By this time he was cross the ford,
Where in the snaw the chapman smoor'd;
And past the birks & meikle stane,
Where drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane;
And thro' the whins & by the cairn,
Where hunters fand the murder'd bairn;
And near the thorn, aboon the well,
Where Mungo's mither hang'd hersel. --
Before him Doon pours all his floods,
The doubling storm roars ^thro' the woods,
The lightenings flash from pole to pole,
Near & more near the thunders roll,
When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,
Kirk-Aloway seem'd in a bleeze;
Thro'
Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing,
And loud resounded mirth & dancing. ----
Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn,
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil,
Wi' usquabae we'll face the devil. --
The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle,
Fair play, he car'd na deils a boddle;
But Maggie stood, right sair astonish'd,
Till by the heel & hand admonish'd,
She ventur'd forward on the light,
And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight!
Warlocks & witches in a dance,
Nae cotillon brent new frae France,
But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys & reels,
Put life & mettle in their heels. --
A
A winnock-bunker in the east,
There Sat auld Nick in shape o' beast,
A towzie tyke, black, grim & large,
To gie them music was his charge:
He screw'd the pipes & gart them skirl,
Till roof & rafters a' did dirl. --
Coffins stood round, like open presses,
That shaw'd the Dead in their last dresses,
And (by some devilish cantraip slight)
Each in its cauld hand held a light.
By which heroic Tam was able
To note upon the haly table,
A murderer's banes, in gibbet-airns;
Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns;
A thief new-cutted frae a rape,
Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape;
Five tomahawks wi' blude red-rusted;
Five scymitars wi' murder crusted;
;
A garter that a babe had strangled;
A knife a father's throat had mangled,
Whom his ain son of life bereft,
The gray hairs yet stack to the heft:
With mair o' horrible and awfu',
Which even to name wad be unlawfu'. --
Three Lawyer's tongues, turn'd inside out,
Wi' lies seam'd like a beggar's clout;
Three Priest's hearts, rotten, black as muck,
Lay stinkin, vile, in every neuk. ----
As Tammie glowr'd, amaz'd & curious,
The mirth & fun grew fast & furious:
The Piper loud & louder blew,
The Dancers quick & quicker flew;
They reel'd, they set, they crost, they cleekit,
Till ilka Carlin swat & reekit,
And
;
And coost her duddies on the wark,
And linkit at it in her sark. ----
Now Tam! O Tam! had thae been queans
A' plump & strappin in their teens,
Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flainen,
Been snaw-white seventeen-hunder linen;
Their breeks o' mine, my only pair,
That ance were plush o' guid blue hair,
I wad hae gien them off my hurdies,
For ae blink o' the bonie burdies!
But wither'd beldams, auld & droll,
Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal,
Loupin & flingin on a crummock,
I wonder did na turn thy stomach. ----
But Tam kend what was what fu' brawlie;
There was ae winsome wench & walie,
That
That night enlisted in the core,
(Lang after, kend on Carrick-shore;
For mony a beast to dead she shot,
And perish'd mony a bonie boat,
And shook baith meikle corn & bear,
And kept the country-side in fear:)
Her cutty-sark, o' Paisley harn,
That while a lassie she had worn,
In longitude tho' sorely scanty,
It was her best, and she was vaunty. --
Ah, little thought thy reverend graunie,
That sark she coft for her wee Nannie
Wi' twa pund Scots ('twas a' her riches)
Should ever grac'd a dance o' witches!
But here my Muse her wing maun cour,
Sic flights are far beyond her power,
To sing, how Nannie lap & flang,
(A souple jad she was & strang)
And how Tam stood like ane bewitch'd,
And thought his very een enrich'd;
Even Satan glowr'd, & fidg'd fu' fain,
And hotch'd, & blew wi' might & main:
Till first ae caper -- syne anither --
Tam tint his reason a' thegither,
And roars out -- "Weel done, Cutty-sark!"
And in an instant all was dark;
And scarcely had he Maggie rallied,
When out the hellish legion sallied. ----
As bees biz out wi' angry fyke,
When plundering herds assail their byke;
As open Pussie's mortal foes,
When, pop, she starts before their nose;
As eager rins the Market-croud
When, "Catch the thief!" resounds aloud;
So Maggie rins, the witches follow,
Wi' mony an eldritch shout & hollow. ---- Ah.
;
Ah, Tam! Ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin!
In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin!
In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin!
Kate soon will be a woefu' woman!!!
Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,
And win the key-stane o' the brig;
There, at them thou thy tail may toss;
A running stream they dare na cross!
But ere the key-stane she could make,
The fient a tail she had to shake. --
For Nannie, far before the rest,
Hard upon noble Maggie prest,
And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle,
But little wist she Maggie's mettle;
Ae spring brought off her Master hale,
But left behind her ain gray tail:
The
The Carline claught her by the rump,
And left poor Maggie scarce a stump. ----
Now, wha this Tale o' truth shall read,
Each man & mother's son take heed:
Whene'er to Drink ye are inclin'd,
Or Cutty-Sarks run in your mind,
Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear;
Remember Tam o' Shanter's Meare!
_____________________
![](https://ciim-data.nts.org.uk/media/iiif/3/pf%2F2%2F1%2F40%2F409%2FNTSBRNp06351.ptif/full/!640,640/0/default.jpg)
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/161
- Alt. number
- 3.6215.b
- Date
- November 1790
- On display
- Yes
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/161
- Alt. number
- 3.6215.b
- Date
- November 1790
- On display
- Yes
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
Description
Tam o' Shanter - A Tale. Original 14 page bound manuscript of 'Tam o' Shanter - A Tale'. Part of the Afton manscript collection.
Tam has spent the evening in a pub getting drunk with his friends and on his way home on horseback encounters the devil and a crowd of witches cavorting inside the auld Kirk of Alloway. Careless with drink, Tam disturbs the witches and flees towards the nearby bridge over the river Doon - with the witches in hot pursuit.
Page two of fourteen reads from "gathering" down to "Monday". In these lines we see that Tam "frae Ayr ae night did canter". We are also given an insight into Tam's character through the monologue of his wife Kate. She describes Tam as being drunk all the year round, in companionship with other associates; in short drink would be the downfall of Tam to the extent that Kate prophesized that he might end up being drowned in the river Doon.
Page three of fourteen which reads from "She prophesied" down to "growing better". Burns introduces the haunted character of the Alloway Kirk where Kate sees another possible demise for Tam. Then Burns reflects on the unhappy lot of the wives showing a sincere appreciation for their predicament. Turning to his "Tale" he first paints a convivial scene of growing drunkenness in the pub.
Page four of fourteen which reads from ""The landlady" down to "their place". Inside the pub the merriment masks the growing storm outside and Burns' dramatic power conveys the abandonment of drunkenness. Followed by the evocative lines which convey the transient nature of such abandoned pleasure, and quickly bringing the reader back to earth.
Page five of fourteen which reads from ""Or like the rainbow's" down to "and fire". Tam mounts his trusty mare to make his inebriated way home as Burns paints a furious scene of hellish weather for him to travel through with thunder lightning rain and wind such that "The Deil had business on his hand". Tam meantime "skelpit on" well insulated by his evenings boozing.
Page six of fourteen which reads from "Whiles holding fast" down to ""in a bleeze". Burns skillfully routes Tam from Ayr to Alloway past several notable landmarks with supernatural connections. Tam is looking out for "bogles" hearing the hooting owls while the storm rages evermore intense with flashing lightning and rolling thunder until he sights "Kirk-Alloway .. in a bleeze".
Page seven of fourteen which reads from "Thro ilka bore" down to "in their heels". Meg comes to a halt at the blazing Kirk resounding with "mirth and dancing", but Tam in his drunken stupor presses the horse forward until he can see the "unco sight" going on in the Kirk. Here the witches dance, not the new fashionable french ballroom dances but the invigorating scottish reels and jigs.
Page eight of fourteen which reads from "A winnock-bunker" down to "murder crusted". Burns paints a ghoulish picture for Tam being played out in the Kirk with the devil taking shape as a beastly black dog seated in an eastern window ledge playing the bagpipes for a motley crew of witches. He decorates the scene with all manner of shocking images of corpses and lurid weapons of murder and destruction well suited to the wild imagination of a drunken Tam.
Page nine of fourteen which reads from ""A garter" down to "and reekit". The corpses are holding up their lanterns whose light enables Tam to view further horrors - a garter that was used to strangle a baby, and a knife used by a son to murder his father. Tam was "amaz'd and curious" as the dancing became faster and faster to the quickening pipes, and the witches sweated and steamed.
Page ten of fourteen which reads from ""and coost" down to "and Wawlie". Burns has the witches down to their flannel underwear speculating that had the dancers been "plump and strapping in their teens" and dressed in fine lingerie, Tam would have had his trousers off in no time! However the witches are so ugly in their hideousness that the poet wonders that they "didna turn (Tam's) stomach". Nevertheless the worldly Tam spies one "winsome wench" amongst the witches who was to be his undoing.
Page eleven of fourteen which reads from ""That night enlisted" down to "and strang". Burns now describes Tam's eyeful, a witch named Nannie (Agnes) who ravaged the land and shore around Carrick. She was wearing her best short skirt which she sported enticingly as her dancing became evermore flamboyant, showing off her figure to the gawping Tam.
Page twelve of fourteen which reads from "And how Tam" down to "and hollow". Tam is entranced by Nannie's gyrations and "even satan glowr'd" being impressed to greater efforts by her performance. So seduced is Tam by her that he "roars out, Weel done, Cutty-Sark" thus breaking the spell and all goes dark. Forthwith the "hellish legion" of witches pour out of the Kirk as Tam takes flight.
Page thirteen of fourteen which reads from ""Ah, Tam" down to ""ain grey tail". Now the witches are after Tam with vengeance in mind while Tam urges Meg on for their very lives towards the Bridge over the Doon where the witches cannot cross. Hell's worst are after Tam with Nannie in touching distance of Tam's horse as they reach the keystone of the bridge but not far enough ahead to prevent the witch catching hold of Maggie's tail and pulling it off.
Page fourteen and last from ""The carlin" to the end. Here Burns draws the moral of the Tale which warns against the dangers of the demon drink and debauchery. It is suggested that the bones of the story are based on fact. Tam's mare one day while in the stable of the pub had its tail clipped by local Ayr scallywags, and Tam fearful of his wife's reaction, invented the story of being pursued by witches which she by all accounts accepted.
Printed in the second volume of The Antiquities of Scotland by Captain Grose. Burns had persuaded Grose to include a drawing of Alloway Kirk in his work which Grose agreed to do, on condition that Burns provided him with a suitable poem to go with the engraving.
Archive information
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Tam o' Shanter - A Tale
Caring for collections
A gift of £5 a month can help us ensure collections like the Robert Burns Collection receive ongoing care and are shared with as many people as possible.