The Trogger
The Trogger - meaning Summary
A Violent and Comic Encounter
A traveler on the Annan riverbank meets a rough countryman called a "trogger" who assaults and overpowers him. The narrator resists but is dragged along, physically bested and forced into drinking at Ecclefechan before they part on the Bonshaw braes. The poem mixes violent mishap with bawdy, comic frustration, ending with the speaker nursing an injury and cursing the episode. Its Scots dialect and repeated refrain convey rueful, colloquial storytelling rather than solemn reflection.
Read Complete AnalysesAs I cam down by Annan side, Intending for the border, Amang the Scroggie banks and braes, Wha met I but a trogger. He laid me down upon my back, I thought he was but jokin', Till he was in me to the hilts, O the deevil tak sic troggin! What could I say, what could I do, I bann'd and sair misca'd him, But whiltie-whaltie gae'd his arse The mair that I forbade him: He stell'd his foot against a stane, And doubl'd ilka stroke in, Till I gaed daft amang his hands, O the deevil tak sic troggin! Then up we raise, and took the road, And in by Ecclefechan, Where the brandy-stoup we gart it clink, And the strang-beer ream the quech in. Bedown the bents o' Bonshaw braes, We took the partin' yokin'; But I've claw'd a sairy cunt synsine, O the deevil tak sic troggin!
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