Document 635

Dipper: 23 - The Red Sea Crossing

Author(s): John Reid

Copyright holder(s): John Reid

The brickwork ran like a weel-gaun mill,
Wi bricks piled up in a muckle hill,
An Moses wiped the sweit frae his broo
As he keekit tae see gin the kiln wis fou.
A sodger chiel cam up at his back
An leant on his spear an stopped for a crack,
Syne Moses caad ower tae his brither Aaron,
‘Juist see that the wark gangs on - nae sparin.
This sodger says I've tae gang tae the palace
Tae hear whit Pharoah has tae tell us.'

Sune he chapped on the door o Pharoah's ha
An gaed straucht in at Pharoah's ca.
‘Guid mornin, Pharoah,' says he, no blate.
‘Guid mornin,' says Pharoah. 'Tak a sate.
I’ve caad ye in aboot these bricks,
For things are gettin in a fix.
Whit wi pyramids an palaces
Your lads will hae tae rax their galluses.
Tae meet my plans in ilk iota
They maun pit oot a bigger quota,
An juist tae free a cairt or twae
They'll hae tae gether their ain strae.'

‘This is a maitter for the union,'
Said Moses, ‘but, in my opeenion,
It's fair yont sense! Mair bricks! Nae strae!
Wad ye hae us workin nicht an day?'
He daudit the door near aff its hinges
Syne back intae the brickwork breenges,
Caas oot the men an tells them stark
Bauld Pharoah's plan for increased wark.

‘Tae Hell wi this,' cries ae heid ganger,
‘We'll thole Egyptian rule nae langer!
Let's gether aa the graith we can,
An set aff for the Promised Lan!'
Sae Moses, wi his kith an kizzens,
Herdit their nowt in droves an dizzens,
Yokit cairts, filled bynes an barras,
An fettled gairds wi bows an arrows.
(But naebody seemed tae tak the notion
They micht need boats tae cross the ocean.)
Sae, wi a steir wad deave a miller,
Sheltered tween clood and fiery pillar,
Wi wives an weans, doos, hens and bestial,
They set oot on their path celestial.

Days later, tired o stour an heat,
They ettled sair tae rest their feet
An soum or paidle in the sea,
But that, alas, wis no tae be.
For ill-set Pharoah had renagit,
Forgettin hou he had been plaguit,
An nou, for aince, wis aff his hunkers
Tae chase his Israelitish plunkers!
His chauriots drave as though gane wud,
An Moses saw they meant nae guid.
Wi's muckle stauve he gied a blatter
An jauped his goun wi saun an watter,
But, Goad be here, the reamin tide
Gaed rowin back on aither side!

An sae, oot ower the shinin saund
They crossed intae the Promised Land.
But time wis short. 'Chase on thae laddies,'
Moses cried. 'Nae time for haddies,
Or guddlin 'mang the kelp for cod.
There's Pharoah comin doun the road!'
The Israelites stood on the shore
An watched as Pharoah cursed an swore,
While aa his drivers, near an faur,
Sank aye the deeper in the glaur.
‘Ach, boys,' said Moses, 'it's a sin,
They'd aa be better happit in.'
Wi that he struck aince mair the watter,
An feenished, mair or less, the maitter.

___
crack/talk
chapped/knocked
blate/bashful,timid
rax/stretch
galluses/braces
yont/beyond
stark/vigorously
graith/possessions, wealth
kizzens/cousins
yokit/harnessed
byne/washtub
steir/uproar
doos/pigeons
bestial/livestock
stour/dust
soum/swim
hunkers/haunches
plunkers/truants
wud/mad
stauve/stave
blatter/heavy blow
jaup/splash,bespatter
reamin/owerflowing
guddlin/catching fish by hand
kelp/seaweed
glaur/mud
happit in/covered over

Information about Document 635

Dipper: 23 - The Red Sea Crossing