illustrated the witch in the poem In Burns' poem ''
Tam o' Shanter'' (first published in 1791), the drunken Tam, riding home on his horse, happens upon a
witches' dance. Among the dancing figures is a particularly beautiful young witch named Nannie (Scots
pet-form of Anna), "ae winsome wench and wawlie" (line 164). She is wearing a
harn (linen)
sark (nightshirt) which fitted her as a child (a "lassie") but is now rather too short for her: (
lassie, "girl";
vauntie, "joyous, boasting";
kend, "knew";
coft, "bought";
twa, "two".) Tam is so enthralled by the
erotic spectacle that he cannot contain himself and yells out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!" (line 189). The witches are now alerted to his presence and pursue him. Tam heads for the River Doon, because, according to
folklore, witches cannot cross running water. He makes it across the bridge to safety, but not before Nannie, the "Cutty-sark", has torn the tail from his horse. The poem ends ironically, with a mock warning to all men of the devilish consequences of thinking about scantily-clad females. The popularity of this poem was such that the phrase, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!", entered the English language via
Scots as an exclamation similar to "Bravo!". Literary allusions to the original Cutty-sark abound. For example, in
Ulysses,
James Joyce writes, "Laughing witches in red cutty sarks ride through the air on
broom sticks" (p. 695). ==See also==