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Public-domain lyrics

Halucket Meg

Traditional

“Halucket Meg” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Traditional: Collected Lyrics Text 138 1843 · historical text
Public domainScottish songFolk
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Meg, muckin' at Geordie's byre,

Wrought as gin her judgment was wrang;

Ilk daud o' the scartle strake fire,

While, loud as a lavrock, she sang!

Her Geordie had promised to marrie,

An' Meg, a sworn fae to despair,

Not dreamin' the job could miscarrie,

Already seem'd mistress an' mair!

My neebours, she sang, aften jeer me,

An' ca' me, daft, halucket Meg,

An' say, they expect soon to hear me

I' the kirk, for my fun, get a fleg!

An' now, 'bout my marriage they clatter,

An' Geordie, poor fallow! they ca'

An' auld doitet hav'rel!—Nae matter,

He'll keep me aye brankin' an' braw!

I grant ye, his face is kenspeckle,

That the white o' his e'e is turn'd out,

That his black beard is rough as a heckle,

That his mou to his lug's rax'd about;

But they needna let on that he's crazie,

His pike-staff wull ne'er let him fa';

Nor that his hair's white as a daisie,

For, fient a hair has he ava!

But a weel-plenish'd mailin has Geordie,

An' routh o' gude goud in his kist,

An' if siller comes at my wordie,

His beauty, I never wull miss't!

Daft gouks, wha catch fire like tinder,

Think love-raptures ever will burn!

But wi' poortith, hearts het as a cinder,

Wull cauld as an iceshogle turn!

There'll just be ae bar to my pleasure,

A bar that's aft fill'd me wi' fear,

He's sic a hard, ne'er-be-gawn miser,

He likes his saul less than his gear!

But though I now flatter his failin',

An' swear nought wi' goud can compare,

Oude sooth! it sall soon get a scailin'!

His bags sail be mouldie nae mair!

I dreamt that I rade in a chariot,

A flunkie ahint me in green;

While Geordie cried out, he was harriet,

An' the saut tear was blindin' his een;

But though 'gainst my spendin' he swear aye,

I'll ha'e frae him what ser's my turn;

Let him slip awa' whan he grows wearie,

Shame fa' me! gin lang I wad mourn!

But Geordie, while Meg was haranguin',

Was cloutin' his breeks i' the bauks,

An' when a' his failins she brang in,

His Strang, hazle-pike-staff he taks:

Designin' to rax her a lounder,

He chanced on the lather to shift,

An' down frae the bauks, flat's a flounder,

Flew, like a shot-starn frae the lift!

But Meg, wi' the sight, was quite haster'd,

An' nae doubt, was bannin' ill luck;

While the face o' poor Geordie was plaster'd,

And his mou' was fill'd fu' wi' the muck!

Confound ye! cried Geordie, an' spat out

The glaur that adown his beard ran;—

Preserve us! quo' Meg, as she gat out

The door,—an' thus lost a gudeman!

Credits

Written by Traditional

Traditional words. Historical text published in The Book of Scottish Song (1843); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Book of Scottish Song (1843), edited by Alexander Whitelaw, “Halucket Meg”

Every contribution in this 1843 anthology predates modern copyright terms by more than a century; any contributor died at least 130 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide (life+70 terms expired no later than 2020).

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-12. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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