The Hallow fair (3)/Bauldy Baird

———

BAULDY BAIRD.

⁠Bauldy Baird's come again,
⁠Bauldy Baird's come again;
⁠Tell the news through burgh and glen,
⁠Bauldy Baird's come back again!

O Bauldy Baird can buy and sell,
Barrels o' herring, lades o' meal;
Cheat till the good man be poor,
And purch till the good wife look sour;
Laugh and clatter, curse and ban,
Tell a lie wi' ony man,
Tell the news to a' ye ken,
That Bauldy Baird's come again.

Bauldy Baird can drink, I trow,
Till a' the bodies roun' be in';
Ilka ane that shares his bicker,
Kens how Bauldy pays his liquor.
When ye're fu', he's on the catch,
He'll buy your blankets, corn, or watch,
Ye sharpers a', though London reared,
Are a' but cuiffs to Bauldy Baird.

Bauldy Baird can brag o' gambling,
Kens the airts o' dark dissembling,
Bauldy Baird can make a fen,
To cut the Jack at Catch-the-Ten.
Farmer bodies! watch your pease,
Hide your butter eggs, and cheese;
For whether ripe, or in the braird,
It's a' ane to Bauldy Baird.

O! close that slap there, lock that yate,
Else some stooks will tak' the gate;
For Bauldy's poney likes your grain,
Just as weel as 'twere his ain:
Stooks o' corn, and shaves o' pease;
Whiles your hens, and whiles your geese,
For, faith he's no so easy scared,
It's a' ane to Bauldy Baird.

On Bauldy Baird the law was vile,
To draw him on a cart to jail;
But Bauldy Baird, the pauky devil,
Slipt the loop, and left the beagle;
O'er the dike and through the fiel's,
Bauldy ran wi' mattle heels.
Watch the corn stack, Robin Law,
For Bauldy Baird's run awa',
O rin, and let the bailie ken,
That Bauldy Baird's come again!