Hamish and Hazel, two haggis children went to a great haggis gathering – a picnic in Aberdeen. They wandered off and as children often do but were left behind by their huge family in the confusion of packing up. Follow their adventures around Aberdeenshire as they track down their family and meet some new friends along the way. The rhymes contain a mixture of Scots and the local dialect, Doric. Translations are available at the bottom!
Noo if ye’ve visited cache thirteen
Ye’ll ken o Freda aence grumpy an’ mean
Bit aifter some soup and a fine lang bath
Gone were her grumpiness, pain and wrath
She sprung oot o the watter “Hoo great I dae feel!”
And she oxtered auld Fergal, dunced a jig and a reel
“Noo come here for bosies” Auld Freda did sing
“A cuddle frae ma family – noo that’s jist the thing!”
An’ full o new life, Great Aunt Freda strode aff
Her stick left ahent and she cried wi a laugh
“Wi ma pains aa gone, Ah’m jist feelin’ fine
“Noo let’s share the news wi a guid pal o mine”
Up hill and doon brae they follaed ahent
And Fergal explained as onwards they went
“The garlic soup helped, the cauld bath and aa
“Bit seein you bairns wis the best cure ava!”
Syne the cam tae a clearin an the hagglets baith peered
An wi a yelp frae Freda, a hedgehog appeared!
“Why Freda!” he squeaked “Why yer deekin braw
“And is this yer family, come awa shak ma paw”
An wi Freda united wi brither and kin
It’s time tae be seekin far this aene’s hid in
Translation: If you have done the last cache, you’ll have read that Auntie Freda had been grumpy because of her sore back. But after a bath and some garlic soup she had been cured considerably. She danced with Fergal and cuddled the little ones. (“Oxter” is a wonderful word in the local Doric dialect. It means underarm. So to Oxter Up to someone is to swing them close and round like you would in a dance) She strode off through the forest, leaving her stick behind, announcing that they’d go off to find an old friend to tell him the good news of her recovery. Uncle Fergal told the little Haggises that the soup and the bath had helped, but it was seeing them that had cheered her up most of all. When they arrived at the clearing, they found that her friend was a hedgehog who thought she looked so much better and greeted Fergal, Hamish and Hazel.