FOUR ANÄ TWENTY TAILORS

1.
Four-an-twenty tailors
Chasin at a snail,
The snail shot oot its horns
Like a hummil coo.
"Ah," cried the foremost tailor,
We're a' stickit noo."

2.
Five and twenty tailors,
Ridin' on a snail,
Says the foremost to the hindmost,
We'll a' be owre the tail;

The snail put oot her horns,
Like ony hummil coo,
Says the foremost to the hindmost,
We'll a' be stickit noo!

3.
Fower-an'-twenty tailor lads
Were fechtin' wi' a slug,
`Hallo, sirs!' said ane o' them,
`Just haud him by the lug!'
But the beastie frae his shell cam' oot,
An' shook his fearsome heid.
`Rin, rin, my tailors bold
Or we will a' be deid!'
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(1) Gregor (1881), 19; (ref. to Henderson, p. 26);
Montgomerie SNR (1946), 116 (no® 147) (Fower-and-twenty
Hielandmen). Hummil really means "hornless" (SND).
(2) Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11), 53 (in 4 lines).
(3) Gullen Trad. Number Rhymes (1950), 106 (no. 342).
This occurs as part of the "Lying Song", q.v. ODNR 401
(no. 496), earliest ref. Gammer Gurton's Garland, 1784.

@Scottish
filename[ TAILOR4
MS
oct96
mudcat.org

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