DORIC COLUMN ROBBIE SHEPHERD

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There was a couthy Packman, I kent him weel aneuch, The simmer he wis quartered within the Howe o Tough

THE PACKMAN - CHARLES MURRAY

Fyles I rax the brain winnerin fit neist tae yoke wi in es Setterday column bit nae tribble the day, as I wis loupin ower the meen tae get an email anent a query at wis brocht up on the ballad o ‘The Bodies O The Lyne O Skene’. Fa wis William Chisholm at composed the ballad?

Weel we hae trackit doon the mannie throwe’s faimily an a fine example in oral tradition o a wye o life, straucht fae the horse’s moo afore it’s owre late, bit first o aa lat’s dauchle on at poem o Charles Murray tellin sae weel the life o the packman ‘fa sleepit in the barn end amo’ the barley strae’,

‘Syne wi the ell-wan’ in his neive to haud the tykes awa’ He humpit roon’ the country side to clachan, craft an ha.’

Fowk cam fae far an near tae view an buy, fyles tae barter for eggs, hame-made cheese an butter an, on the ither han, the pedlar emsel –

‘wisna sweer to lift the poacher’s birds an bawds when keepers werena near’.

Ay Charles Murray wis a maister o the rhymin wirds an’s observation on rural life, an here he tells tee foo the packman sell’t screeds o rare auld ballads, singin or liltin a snatch o them tae tryst his customers.

Sae es taks me back tae the aathor o the ballad at I menchint a three wikk syne as William Chisholm, weel kent in earlier days as a pedlar/traivellin salesman roon aboot the airt o the Lyne o Skene, Echt an Kintore an ye can jist imagine the fine begaik I got wi es email fae Stella Hay fae Abyne,

‘I am sure the Packman is my four times Great Grandfather, William Chisholm, who was a book/paper hawker who travelled around the Skene/Garioch area. He was born in 1802 in Aberdeen and died in Lyne of Skene in 1862. I can trace back my DNA to him and have also been in touch with a direct descendant of one of his brothers, Burnett. He remembers stories of them told to him by his mother who lived to be 96. William and Burnett were from a large family and they travelled around quite a bit. They were all characters.’

Stella gings on tae tell’s at her grandad was a bothy ballad singer an her ain loons fa bide abroad are musicians an compose their ain music. Ay it’s in the traivellin genes richt aneuch an thanks Stella for getting in towe. Weel worth a place in the annals o the gyanaboot fowk that tak the road again when yella’s on the broom.

Tae feenish here’s a three wirds for the wikkeyn, clues are in these quotes fae Charles Murray’s ‘The Packman’ I hae ees’t the day.

They are ‘Ell-wan’, ‘Tykes’ an ‘Bawds’.

Fit wis the first een for an fit animals are we spikkin aboot? Ony memories fae the day’s screed wid be maist welcome as weel. Be hearin fae ye.

See ye neist wikkeyn.