ard mhacha: A version of Tattie Jock is in the archives, but the one below has two or three more verses giving a (a) a broader glimpse of farm life and (b) a kinder portrait of the farmer vis-a-vis his hired workers, and thus a more savage view of systematic working class oppression through the court system in the 1800s.

TATTIE JOCK

Well, ye a' hae heard o' Tattle Jock,
Likewise o' Mutton Peggie.
They had a fairmie ower in Fife.
An' the name o' it was Craigie.

Cho: Hye riddle die, roo rum dir doe,
Hye riddle die, roo rum day.

There was ten pair upon that place,
Likewise ten able men,
It's five they gave for tae kinnle the fire,
And the ither five oot tae scran.

Three months we served with Tattle Jock
And weel we did agree.
Till we found oot that the tattie shed
Could be opened with the bothy key.

We a' went intae the tattle shed,
Our bags were hardly full,
When Tattle Jock in ahint the door
Cried, "Aye, ma lads stand still."

Oh, the first he got was Willie Marr,
The next was Sandy Doo,
There was Jimmy Grey and Wull Moncur
And Jimmy Pethrie flew.

Next day some o' us were drivin' dung,
An' some were at the mill;
The foreman he was at the ploo'
Upon Pitlootie Hill.

They sent for ten big polismen
But nine there only cam',
It dinged them for tae lift us that night,
Us bein' sic able men.

Noo, the hinmaist lad was the wisest een,
The best lad o' us a'.
He jined a man o' war at Leith;
So he didnae need tae stand the law.

When we were getting' oor sentence read
We all stood roon' and roon'
But when we heard o' the fourteen years
Oor tears cam' tricklin' doon.

When Tattie Jock heard tell o' this,
He cried and grat fu' sore;
A thousand guineas he would pay,
If that would ease the score.

A bag o gold he did produce,
Tae pey it there an' then,
But the lawyer only told him money
Wouldna clear his men.

An' when they mairched us up through Perth,
We heard the news boy say,
"It's hard tae see sic able men
Rade aff tae Botany Bay."

When we arrive in Botany Bay
Some letters we will send, Tae tell oor friends o' the hardship we
Endure in a foreign land.

As published in The Scottish Folksinger (1973) by Norman Buchan and Peter Hall

From the singing of Archie Webster of Strathkinness. The song is also included in Fife Songs and Ballads, edited by P. Shepherd.