What will be our twelve, boys?
What will be our twelve, boys?
Twelve's the Twelve Apostles;
Eleven's maidens in a dance;
Ten's the Ten Commandments;
Nine's the Muses of Parnassus;
Eight's the table rangers;
Seven's the stars of heaven;
Six is the echoing waters;

Five's the hymnlers o' my bower;
Four's the Gospel makers;

Three, three thrivers;

Twa's the lily and the rose,

That shine baith red and green, boys;

My only one she walks alane,

And evermair has done, boys.

[This may be played as a game in the same way as Christmas Gifts," p. 140.]

"The

LITTLE BOOPEEP.

185

LITTLE BOOPEEP.

LITTLE Boopeep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Let them alone, and they'll come home,
With their tails behind them.

Little Boopeep fell fast asleep,

And dreamt she heard them bleating; But when she awoke she found it a joke, For they were still a-fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,

Determined for to find them:

She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left all their tails behind them.

It happened one day, as Boopeep did stray,
Into a meadow hard by,

There she espied their tails side by side,
All hung on a tree to dry.

She heaved a sigh, and wiped her eye,

Then went o'er hill and dale,

And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should, To tack to each sheep its tail.

MOORACHUG AND MEENACHUG.

A GAELIC TALE.*

MOORACHUG and Meenachug went out to gather fruit, and as Moorachug would gather, Meenachug would eat.

Moorachug went to seek a rod to lay on Meenachug, and she eating his share of fruit.

"What's thy news to-day, O Voorachai ?" said the Rod. "Tis my own news, that I am seeking a rod to lay on Meenachug, and she eating my share of fruit."

"Thou wilt not get me until thou gettest an axe that will reap me." He reached the axe. "What's thy news to-day, O Voorachai?" "Tis my own news, that I am seeking an axe to reap rod, rod to lay on Meenachug, and she eating my share of fruit."

"Thou wilt not get me until thou gettest a stone to smooth me." He reached a stone. "What's thy news to-day, O Voorachai ?" said the Stone. "Tis my own news, that I am seeking stone to smooth axe, axe to reap rod, rod to lay on Meenachug, and she eating my share of fruit."

* Reprinted, by the kind permission of J. F. Campbell, Esq., from his "Popular Tales of the West Highlands." Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. 1860-2.