The Mill Mill-o. Original
The Mill Mill-o. Original - meaning Summary
Courtship at the Mill
This short, jaunty Scots song registers a playful encounter between the speaker and a "bonny lass" at the water-side near a mill. The narrator watches her leave domestic tasks and join the miller s reel; he teases about her lack of skill, they tumble together, and he promises to reward her on her next visit by grinding her malt well. The poem frames flirtation as communal dance and rustic labor, blending courtship, physical comedy, and everyday rural detail into a light, rhythmical snapshot of local life.
Read Complete AnalysesAs I came down yon water side And by yon Shillin Hill, O, There I spied a bonny lass, A lass that I loed right weel, O. The mill, mill-O, and the kill, kill-O An' the coggin' o' Peggy's wheel, O. The sack an' the sieve, a' she did leave, An' danced the millers reel, O. I spier'd at her, gin she cou'd play, Birt the lassie had nae skill, O; An' yet she was nae a' to blame, She pat it in my will, O. Then she fell o'er, an' sae did I, An' danc'd the millars reel, O, Whene'er that bonny lassie comes again, She shall hae her ma't ground weel, O. The mill, mill-O, and the kill, kill-O An' the coggin' o' Peggy's wheel, O. The sack an' the sieve, a' she did leave, An' danced the millers reel, O.
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