Maggie Picken an Katie Bairdie
John Erskine
In a recent contribution to the ULLANS-line e-mail list, Mark Thompson presented a couple of stanzas from a verse which he entitled ‘Maggie Picken’. This was a piece of verse which his mother recalled from her County Down childhood and which she passed on to him. The two verses as recorded by Mark were:
Maggie Picken had a coo
Black and white aboot the broo.
Appen the gate and let it through,
Maggie Picken’s ain coo.
Maggie Picken had a pig
Hoakin up the pritta rig.
Lift a stick an hit it a crig
Maggie Picken’s ain pig.
The pattern and rhythm of this poem seemed familiar to me, but at first I could not place it. However it soon came back to me as a song from one of those tapes we used to play endlessly in the car when our children were young. The tape — a collection of children’s songs and adaptations — included a song, in Scots, called ‘Katie Bairdie’. The verses of the song are:
Katie Bairdie had a coo,
Black an blue aboot the moo.
Wesnae that a dainty coo?
Dance, Katie Bairdie!
Katie Bairdie had a cat,
She could catch a moose or rat.
Wesnae that a dainty cat?
Dance, Katie Bairdie.
Katie Bairdie had a coo …
Katie Bairdie had a hen,
She could lay baith but an ben.
Wesnae that dainty hen?
Dance, Katie Bairdie!
Katie Bairdie had a coo …
Katie Bairdie had a grice,
He could skate upon the ice.
Wesnae that a dainty grice?
Dance, Katie Bairdie!
Katie Bairdie had a coo …
Katie Bairdie had a wean,
Wudnae play oot in the rain.
Wesnae that a dainty wean?
Dance, Katie Bairdie!
Katie Bairdie had a coo …
Contrasted to this Scots version the tape presented a couple of stanzas from a version in English:
Kathy Bairdy had a cow,
Black and white about the mouth.
Wasn’t that a dainty cow?
Dance, Kathy Bairdy?
Kathy Bairdy had a pig.
It could dance a jolly jig.
Wasn’t that a dainty pig?
Dance, Kathy Bairdy!
The tune for the song was as follows:
Although presented in the tape as a song, ‘Katie Beardie’ is also included in the Montgomeries’ classic collection of Scottish nursery rhymes. The Montgomeries present the nursery rhyme in this form:
Katie Beardie had a coo,
Black an white aboot the mou.
Wasna that a denty coo?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
Katie Beardie had a hen,
Cackled but an cackled ben.
Wasna that a denty hen?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
Katie Beardie had a cock,
That could spin an bake, an rock.
Wasna that a denty cock?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
Katie Beardie had a grice,
It could skate upon the ice.
Wasna that a denty grice?
Dance, Katie Beardie!
‘Katie Beardie/Bairdie’ clearly exists as a nursery rhyme or children’s song on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border, as do so many other rhymes and songs, albeit in varying forms. What is of particular interest, however, is how the ‘Maggie Picken’ version, as presented by Mark Thompson, developed in Ulster. The structure and pattern clearly indicate that it is not independent of ‘Katie Beardie/Bairdie’ but that it has, in some way, developed from it.
I offer no suggestions on the matter. But it would be interesting to hear from readers if they know of other variant or fuller versions in Ulster of ‘Katie Beardie/Bairdie’ or of ‘Maggie Picken’. And, of course, there must be other rhymes and songs which also display a Scottish link. Any offers?
References:
Norah and William Montgomerie (eds) Scottish nursery rhymes (Edinburgh: Chambers, 1985)
The Music Box Songbook (cassette tape) (London: BBC, 1985)
Next: The Lade
Previous: Tha Near Cut
Contents: Ullans: The Magazine for Ulster-Scots, Nummer 8 Hairst 2001
