This book presents Robert Burns' Tam O'Shanter Book

I read a translation of Tam O'Shanter by Jim Smith after reading the review by my Goodreads friend Ian. I could not find this particular edition on Goodreads. It came with illustrations of The Old Market Cross at Ayr and other scenes from the poem.

As someone who enjoys his beer, Tam O'Shanter was like music to my ears. It made me wish I was born in Scotland and not in a conservative country like India. The poem begins with some awesome scenes of Tam living it up in a pub with his best friend Cobbler Johnny. It has some of the best descriptions of the drunken state:

"Care, mad to see him full of cheer,
Even drowned himself among the beer.
As bees fly home with loads of treasure,
The minutes winged their way with pleasure;
Kings may be blessed but Tam was glorious,
O'er all the ills of life victorious."

But as all tipplers know, the good times must end:

"But pleasures are like poppies spread:
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white - then melts forever"

Then as the drunk Tam rides home on his horse to his naggy wife Kate, the poem turns into horror. He is chased by witches who dance until they sweat. But they are not particularly pretty or anything. There is one beautiful witch among them who wears a cutty sark (means a short undergarment; I can show off next time someone wonders what cutty sark means) and helps Tam and his horse cross the Doon bridge. The horse does lose its tail at the hands of a witch during its jump across the bridge.

The poem ends with a warning to all men who are inclined to drink and whose minds are haunted by cutty sarks.

"Now, who this tale of truth shall read,
Each man, and mother's son, take heed:
Whene'er to drink you are inclined,
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
Those joys may cost too much, take care:
Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare."

I thought the whole poem was quite tongue in cheek. I wonder why a film has not been made based on it. Like Ian pointed out, it is very cinematic. Tam and his friends having a good time getting drunk at a pub while his wife waits at home. Tam hooking up with the landlady. His return home on a horse during a thunderous night across bogs and mires. An attack by dancing singing witches. Finally his escape.

Some old obscure words that I discovered in the poem:

ingle - fireplace
meikle - giant
usquabae - whiskey, liquor
winnock bunker - window seat
carlin - witch, hag
duddies - clothes