From Merry Muses c. 1900 (Murison Coll., Dunfermline), pp. 101-2; never since reprinted. Tune is of course "O'er the muir amang the heather", of which song this is an erotic parody (see note to "Act Sederunt o' the Session"). The parody is quite close, and hence more satiric. This item is the only new one in the c. 1900 volume, probably added (as Legman suggests, MMC 65 p. 287) by the printer. In 4.3, outcome should be owrecome, i.e. "burden" (as in the original). Chorus will repeat, as does the original, the last 2 lines of the preceding stanza. Stell = "still"; the metaphoric "worm" is a spiral or coiled tube connected with the head of the still, in which the vapour is condensed. There are echoes of other songs in this, e.g. cf. 6.1 with "Ye Hae Lien Wrang, Lassie"; 6.3, the same, last line. As you may gather, Burns has nothing to do with this, as far as we can tell.