THE WITCHES AND THE WHALES, John Warner © 18/10/2010      
 
A friend loaned John a Scottish heritage magazine in which he read a story of bay whalers being outwitted by a trio of women who mysteriously disappeared …
 
The whaleboat came when the mist was thin,
And drifted up the bay.
Upon the tide she ghosted in,
Where the whales all feeding lay x 2
 
They’ll trap the whales on the falling tide,
Upon the shingle beach,
And slay each one for the oil and bone,
When the sea is out of reach x 2
 
So softly then they drove the whales,
Up from the heaving sea,
But down the wind came a small, small craft,
And aboard were women three,
 
One was a fair and shapely maid,
The older nursed a child, oh,
The oldest grinned a gap-toothed grin,
And they all sang drunken wild, oh.
 
Swift did she go, though none did row,
Her gaps and splits gaped wide,
And as she rolled such a music came,
A drifting up the tide x 2
 
For those on board sang drunken songs,
That echoed round the bay,
And no man nigh dared raise a cry,
For fear he start the prey x 2
 
The angry whalers waved their hands,
To bid the three be still,
But louder yet they clashed their cups
And aye they sang more shrill x 2
 
One was a fair and shapely maid,
The older nursed a child, oh,
The oldest grinned a gap-toothed grin,
And they all sang drunken wild, oh.
 
The youngest seized on an iron pot,
And beat it without rest,
The older chanted ribaldry,
As the child nursed at her breast x 2
 
The oldest blew on a great bagpipe,
A reel to rouse the dead,
And at that sound, the boat turned round,
And towards the whales it sped x 2
 
The frightened whales turned up their tails,
And dived beneath the swell,
And from the three in the reeling tub,
Came a fierce triumphant yell,
 
One was a fair and shapely maid,
The older nursed a child oh,
The oldest grinned a gap-toothed grin,
And they all sang drunken wild oh.
 
And in that moment a burst of spray,
Hid all the three from sight,
But aye what mocking laughter rose,
To fade in the gathering night x 2
 
The whaling men cried out in rage,
And brandished stave and fist,
But the night was still, for the boat and all,
Had vanished like the mist x 2
 
And down that steep and rocky coast,
They say, who hear such tales,
The threefold Goddess rides that boat,
And thus she guards the whales.
 
One was a fair and shapely maid,
The older nursed a child oh,
The oldest grinned a gap-toothed grin,
And they all sang drunken wild oh