Ye'll hae heard o' Tattie Jock,

Likewise o' Mutton Peggie;

They had a fairmie owre in Fife,

An' the name o' it wis Craigie.

 

Chorus :

Singin' ah riddle aye roo dum di do,

Ah riddle aye roo dum day.

 

There was ten pair upon that place,

Likewise ten able men;

It's five they gaed for tae kinnle the fire

An' the ither five oot tae scran.

 

Three month we served wi; Tattie Jock

An' weel we did agree,

Till we found oot that the tattie shed

Could be opened wi' the bothy key.

 

We a' went intae the tattie shed,

Oor bags were hardly full,

When Tattie Jock in ahint the door,

Cried "Ay ma lads stand still!"

 

Oh, the first he got was Willie Marr,

The next was Sandy Doo,

There was Jimmy Grey an' Wull Moncur,

An' Jimmy Pethrie flew.

 

Next day some o' us were drivin' dung,

An' some were at the mill;

The foreman he was at the ploo'

Upon Pitlootie Hill.

 

They sent for ten big polismen,

But nine there only came.

It dinged them for tae lift's that night,

Us bein' ten able men.

 

The hin'maist lad was the wisest een,

The best lad o' us a',

He jined a man o' war ship at Leith,

So's he didnae need tae stand the law.

 

When we were gettin' oor sentences,

We a' stood roond an' roond,

But when we heard o' the fourteen years,

Oor tears cam' rollin' doon.

 

When Tattie Jock heard tell o' this.

He cried an' grat fu' sore;

A thousand guineas he would pay

If that would clear oor score.

 

A bag o' gold he did produce,

Tae pey it there an' then,

But the lawyer only told him money

Wouldna clear his men.

 

An' when they maiched us up through Perth,

We heard the news boy say,

"It's hard tae see sic able men

Rade aff tae Botany Bay."

 

When we arrive in Botany Bay

Some letters we will send,

Tae tell oor friends the hardships we

Endure in a foreign land.