A Waukrife Minnie
written in 1789
A Waukrife Minnie - meaning Summary
Courtship Foiled by a Mother
This short Scots ballad presents a would-be lover's late-night visit to a bony lass. She replies saucily that she lives with her mother; the narrator returns at evening but finds her demeanor changed before dawn. The household cock wakes the mother, who angrily confronts and beats her daughter with a hazel rod. The speaker ends with a rueful farewell, noting the girl's attractiveness but lamenting her waukrife (overwatchful) mother. The poem uses a colloquial, comic voice to show how parental authority curtails youthful courtship.
Read Complete AnalysesWhare are you gaun, my bony lass, Whare are you gaun, my hiney. She answered me right saucilie, An errand for my minnie. O whare live ye, my bony lass, O whare live ye, my hiney. By yon burnside, gin ye maun ken, In a wee house wi' my minnie. But I foor up the glen at e'en, To see my bony lassie; And lang before the grey morn cam, She was na hauf sae saucey. O weary fa' the waukrife cock, And the foumart lay his crawin! He wauken'd the auld wife frae her sleep, A wee blink or the dawin. An angry wife I wat she raise, And o'er the bed she brought her; And wi' a meikle hazel rung She made her a weel-pay'd dochter. O fare thee weel, my bony lass! O fare thee well, my hinnie! Thou art a gay an' a bony lass, But thou has a waukrife minnie.
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