Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Feb 01 - 09:46 AM

Joe, you're amazing!!

Subject: Poem Add: MUCKLE-MOU'D MEG
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 01 - 03:36 AM

Here's the other.
-Joe Offer-

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MUCKLE-MOU'D MEG

"Oh, what hae ye brought us hame now, my brave lord,
Strappit flaught owre his braid saddle-bow?
Some bauld Border reiver to feast at our board,
An' harry our pantry, I trow.
He's buirdly an' stalwart in lith an' in limb;
Gin ye were his master in war
The field was a saft eneugh litter for him,
Ye needna hae brought him sae far.
Then saddle an' munt again, harness an' dunt again,
An' when ye gae hunt again, strike higher game."

"Hoot, whisht ye, my dame, for he comes o' gude kin,
An' boasts o' a lang pedigree;
This night he maun share o' our gude cheer within,
At morning's gray dawn he maun dee.
He's gallant Wat Scott, heir o' proud Harden Ha',
Wha ettled our lands clear to sweep;
But now he is snug in auld Elibank's paw,
An' shall swing frae our donjon-keep.
Though saddle an' munt again, harness an' dunt again,
I'll ne'er when I hunt again strike higher game."

"Is this young Wat Scott? an' wad ye rax his craig,
When our daughter is fey for a man?
Gae, gaur the loun marry our muckle-mou'd Meg
Or we'll ne'er get the jaud aff our han'!"
"Od! hear our gudewife, she wad fain save your life;
Wat Scott, will ye marry or hang?"
But Meg's muckle mou set young Wat's heart agrue.
Wat swore to the woodie he'd gang.
Ne'er saddle nor munt again, harness nor dunt again,
Wat ne'er shall hunt again, ne'er see his hame.

Syne muckle-mou'd Meg pressed in close to his side,
An' blinkit fu' sleely and kind,
But aye as Wat glowered at his braw proffered bride,
He shook like a leaf in the wind.
"A bride or a gallows, a rope or a wife!"
The morning dawned sunny and clear -
Wat boldly strode forward to part wi' his life,
Till he saw Meggy shedding a tear;
Then saddle an' munt again, harness an' dunt again,
Fain wad Wat hunt again, fain wad be hame.

Meg's tear touched his bosom, the gibbet frowned high,
An' slowly Wat strode to his doom;
He gae a glance round wi' a tear in his eye,
Meg shone like a star through the gloom.
She rushed to his arms, they were wed on the spot,
An' lo'ed ither muckle and lang;
Nae bauld border laird had a wife like Wat Scott;
'Twas better to marry than hang.
So saddle an' munt again, harness an' dunt again,
Elibank hunt again, Wat's snug at hame.

James Ballantine [1808-1877]

Subject: Poem Add: Muckle-Mouth Meg (Browning)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 01 - 03:31 AM

Ah, it finally loaded! Not a song, but I think it's pertinent.

-Joe Offer-

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MUCKLE-MOUTH MEG

Frowned the Laird on the Lord: "So, red-handed I catch thee?
Death-doomed by our Law of the Border!
We've a gallows outside and a chiel to dispatch thee:

Who trespasses - hangs: all's in order."

He met frown with smile, did the young English gallant:
Then the Laird's dame: "Nay, Husband, I beg!
He's comely: be merciful! Grace for the callant
- If he marries our Muckle-mouth Meg!"

"No mile-wide-mouthed monster of yours do I marry:
Grant rather the gallows!" laughed he.
"Foul fare kith and kin of you - why do you tarry?"
"To tame your fierce temper!" quoth she.

"Shove him quick in the Hole, shut him fast for a week:
Cold, darkness, and hunger work wonders:
Who lion-like roars, now mouse-fashion will squeak,
And 'it rains' soon succeed to 'it thunders.'"

A week did he bide in the cold and dark
- Not hunger: for duly at morning
In flitted a lass, and a voice like a lark
Chirped, "Muckle-mouth Meg still ye're scorning?

"Go hang, but here's parritch to hearten ye first!"
"Did Meg's muckle-mouth boast within some
Such music as yours, mine should match it or burst:
No frog-jaws! So tell folk, my Winsome!"

Soon week came to end, and, from Hole's door set wide,
Out he marched, and there waited the lassie:
"Yon gallows, or Muckle-mouth Meg for a bride!
Consider! Sky's blue and turf's grassy:

"Life's sweet; shall I say ye wed Muckle-mouth Meg?"
"Not I," quoth the stout heart: "too eerie
The mouth that can swallow a bubblyjock's egg:
Shall I let it munch mine? Never, Dearie!"

"Not Muckle-mouth Meg? Wow, the obstinate man!
Perhaps he would rather wed me!"
"Ay, would he - with just for a dowry your can!"
"I'm Muckle-mouth Meg," chirruped she.

"Then so - so - so - so -" as he kissed her apace -
"Will I widen thee out till thou turnest
From Margaret Minnikin-mou', by God's grace,
To Muckle-mouth Meg in good earnest!"

Robert Browning [1812-1889]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 01 - 02:41 AM

Hmmm. Seems like we should find something. According to this site (click) Meg was an ancestor of Sir Walter Scott. Apparently, Robert Browning wrote a poem titled "Muckle-Mouth Meg" - but I couldn't find the text. It should be here (click), but my Internet service is slow this week and I can't load the whole page. Can somebody else try to retrieve and post the poem? Looks like there could be two with this title.
Here's an interesting quote I found at bibliomania.com:

Austrian Lip (The), a protruding under jaw, with a heavy lip disinclined to shut close. It came from kaiser Maximilian I., son of kaiser Frederick III., and was inherited from his grandmother Cimburgis, a Polish princess, duke of Masovia’s daughter, and hence called the “Cimburgis Under Lip.”
A similar peculiarity occurs in the family of sir Gideon Murray of Elibank. He had taken prisoner a young gentleman named Scoto, whom he was about to hang; but his wife persuaded him to commute the sentence into a marriage with their daughter “Meg of the muckle mouth.” Meg made him a most excellent wife, but the “muckle mouth” descended to their posterity for many generations.

Maybe that will help somebody else carry on the search. G'nite.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg
From: Sarah2
Date: 01 Feb 01 - 10:39 PM

Thanks, shankmac. I have no clue about this song, but the title intrigues...

Sarah

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg
From: shankmac
Date: 01 Feb 01 - 10:02 AM

Iknow of it and I haveheard it performed but I can't bring to mind where. It could be under the name of the young man who has to marry her or be hanged by her father. It definitely sounds like a Scottish Border Ballad but I cant find it . I will keep looking.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg
From: Sarah2
Date: 31 Jan 01 - 07:14 PM

By the power of the Mudcat, I command thee:

REFRESH!

Come all ye young Mudcats who seek out and delve
Through the sites on the web and the books on your shelves,
Through your vinyl, your tapes, your CDs, thousands strong --
Come help this fair guest in her quest for a song.

(Where are those pills...?)

Sarah

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: muckle mou'ed meg
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 07:03 PM

I have looked at all my favorite sites and the only thing I can find is a reference to "her"? in Andrew Lang's fishing sketches........anybody else? Is it an alternate Child title?

Subject: muckle mou'ed meg
From: GUEST,marfita
Date: 30 Jan 01 - 02:30 PM

Many thanks for being an informative and invaluable resource. You have me singing again -- and with the proper lyrics for a change. My hearing must be abysmal. I blame that night 23 years ago that I went to a disco.

Now is the time on Sprockets when I make the stupid and obnoxious request for a lost ballad. I USED to have the synopsis with the published source on it and, working in a library, I could track that down and have it shipped to me ILL. But in two moves in the past four years, I've lost that slip of paper!

If someone knows in what book I can find the actual ballad "Muckle Mou'ed Meg," I would be thrilled to the tonsils.