The Woolip.

The Woolip. Written in the Doric of North East Scotland.

There'd been an affa storm on the grun and New Deer wiz completely cut aff. Nithing wiz movin in the county even the trains were stuck at Maud and een derailed at Arnage at the ither side o Crichy. The army hid been called in tae help wi supplies and Norwegian sojers hid crossed country wi sledges tae bring in medicine and tinned spam tae the village. It wiz a gye hard time onywye for sic a thing tae happen and it the middle o a war. It wiz January 1942 afore the supplies started comin tae New Deer again fin the weather hid gotten a wee bitty milder. The snaw wiz still lyin in great heaps at the sides o the roads but noo at least folk could get aboot a fair bit better. Wi the railways clear the local shops hid at last got a delivery o the essentials. One early evenin an army larry growled its wye up Main street and made a delivery tae Dowie's shop. My granda Davy tellt my Mam and her sister Chrissie tae ging up tae the shop for messages. The blackoot wiz still on the go so it wiz hard tae see a finger afore them but the quines wun there wye up through the weet slushy street athoot ony problem. They got some eerins that were on the rations, a tin o bully beef, een o spam and tae my mither's delight a tin o soya links. Now abody hated soya links but tae my mither they were the height o culinary cuisine. Finiver they were served the faimily complained bitterly aboot them and shoved them tae one side my mither niver said onything nor did she tell them how much she loved them. Onywye I digress. Mam Jessie and auntie Chrissie were makin there wye back doon Main street chatterin awa wi eenanither fin Chrissie said tae Jessie 'Shhh!' There wiz a queer sound that seemed tae be comin fae ahin them. Woolip woolip, woolip woolip! Fin they stopped it stopped but as soon as they moved there it wiz again woolip woolip. It wiz as dark they couldna see onything jist hear this sound. Noo Chrissie hid a mair active imagination than her sister Jessie and by this time she wiz gettin a wee bit spooky. She said tae Jessie 'We're bein followed by a ghost or maybe the devil. Jessie hersel gettin a wee bit scared did the big sister thing and said ' There's nae sic thing as ghosts!' So they started walkin faster and the faster they walked the faster the woolip woolip got till eventually Chrissie shouted 'G H O S T !' and teen tae her heels. Jessie soon followed her sister's example and she teen tae her heels. But the faster they ran the faster this woolip woolip came ahin them. They reached the gate oh their hoose and slippin in the slush they at last got through it. Chrissie in aa the hash let the bag o eerins faa tae lighted her load tae get tae the door. The twa o them scrambled tae get through the front door howlin wi the fear. Granda Davy came oot o the livinroom wi the noise. They'd slammed the door ahin them and baith sat doon at the back o't their chests heavin an swyte rollin doon their faces. Granda managed tae calm them doon enough tae hear aboot the ghost that hid followed his lassies, So oot he goes tae confront the supposed ghost thinkin aa the while that some dirty man hid chased his quines. But fin he got oot there wisna sight or sound o onything so he picked up the scattered messages fae aff the grun and wint inside.
Next day my grunny wiz standin in the queue at the butchers fin Mrs Will came inaboot tae her and said 'Ae me Mrs stewart your twa quines gave oor wee Andra an affa flegg last night. He wiz walkin ahin your lassies comin fae the shop because he wiz feart kind in the dark. Een o yer quines shouted 'GHOST' and started tae run and so did yer ither lassie. He ran ahin them as fast as he could but wee Andra couldna rin fast enough because he'd his father's size ten wellington beets on because o the slush and him wi only size four feet!

 copyright © Patrick Hutchison