"WEEL, ye see, I dinna mind the
beginning o’ the story. But the Sir James Ramsay a’ Bamff of that time was
said to be ane o’ the conspirators, and his lands were forfaulted, and
himsel’ banished the country, and a price set upon his head if he came
back.
"He gaed to France or Spain, I’m no
sure which, and was very ill off. Ae day that he was walking in a wood, he
met an oldish man wi’ a lang beard, weel dressed and respectable looking.
This man lookit hard at Sir James, and then said to him that he lookit ill
and distressed like; that he himsel’ was a doctor, and if Sir James would
tell his complaints, maybe he might be able to do him good.
"Syne Sir James said he was not ill
but for want o’ food, and that all the medicine he needed was some way to
earn his living as a gentleman. The auld doctor said till him he would
take him as an apprentice if he liked; that he should live in his house
and at his table, and learn his profession. So Sir James went hame wi’
him, and was very kindly tret. After he had been wi’ him a while, his
master said till him ae day that he kend how to make the best and most
wonderful medicine in the world—a medicine that would make baith their
fortunes, and a’ that belanged to them; but that it was a difficult
business to get the materials that the medicine was made of—that they
could only be gotten frae the river --, that ran through the county of —,
in Scotland, and at a particular part of the river, which he described;
and that it would need to be some canny person, that kend that pairt o’
the country weel, to gang wi’ ony chance o’ success. Sir James said
naebody kend that pairt o’ the country better than himsel’, for it was on
his ain estate o’ Bamff, and that he was very willing to run the risk o’
going hame for his master’s sake, that had been sae kind to him, and for
the sake o’ seeing his am place again.
"Then the doctor gied him strict
directions what he was to do, and how he was to make sure o’ getting the
beast that he was to make the medicine o’. He was to gang to a pairt o’
the river where there was a deep pool o’ water, and he was to hide himsel’
behind some big trees that came down to the water-side for the three
nights that the moon was at the full. He would see a white serpent come
out o’ the water, and go up to a big stane, and creep under it. He maun
watch till it came out again, and catch it on its way back to the water,
and kill it, and bring it awa' wi’ him.
"Weel, Sir James did a’ that he was bidden. He put
on a disguise, and gaed back to Scotland and to Bamff, and got there
without onybody kenning him. He hid himsel’ behind the trees at the
water-side, and watched night after night. He saw the white serpent come
out the first twa nights, and creep under the stane; but it aye got back
to the water afore he could catch it; but the third night he did catch it,
and killed it, and brought it awa’ wi’ him to Spain to his master. His
master was very glad to get it, but he wasna sae kind after to Sir James
as he used to be. He told him, now that they had got the serpent, the next
thing to do was to cook it, and he maun do that too. He was to go down to
a vault, and there stew the serpent till it was turned into oil. If
onybody saw him at the wark, or if he tasted food till it was done, the
charm would be spoiled; and if by ony chance he was to taste the medicine,
it would kill him at ance, unless he had the proper remedy. Sae Sir James
gaed down to the vault, and prepared the medicine just as he had been
ordered; but when he was pouring it out o’ the pan into the box where it
was to be keepit, he let some drops fa’ on his fingers that brunt them;
and in the pain and hurry he forgot his master’s orders, and put his
fingers into his mouth to suck out the pain. He did not die, but he fand
that his een were opened, and that he could see through everything. And
when his master came down at the appointed time to speer if the medicine
was ready, he fand he could see into his master’s inside, and could tell
a’ that was going on there. But he keepit his ain secret, and never let on
to his master what had happened; and it was very lucky, for he soon
found out that his master was a bad man, and would have
killed him if he had kend that he had got the secret o’ the medicine. He
had only been kind to him because he kend that Sir James was the best man
to catch the serpent. However, Sir James learnt to be a skilfu’ doctor
under him; and at last he managed to get awa’ frae him, and syne he
travelled over the wand as a doctor, doing mony wonders, because he could
clearly see what was wrang in folk’s insides. But he wearied sair to get
back to Scotland, and he thought that naebody would ken him as a doctor.
Sae he ventured to gae back; and when he arrived, he fand that the king
was very ill, and no man could find out what was the matter wi’ him. He
had tried a’ the doctors in Scotland, and a’ that came to him frae far and
near, but he was nane the better; and at last he published a proclamation,
that he would gie the princess, his daughter, in marriage to ony man that
would cure him. Sae Sir James gaed to the court, and askit leave to try
his skill. As soon as he came into the king’s presence, and looked at him,
he saw there was a ball o’ hair in his inside, and that no medicine could
touch it. But he said if the king would trust to him, he would cure him;
and the king having consented, he put him sae fast asleep, that he cuttit
the ball o’ hair out of his inside without his ever wakening. When he did
waken, he was free from illness, only weak a little frae the loss o’
blood; and he was sae pleased wi’ his doctor that Sir James kneeled down
and telI’t him wha he was. And the king pardoned him, and gied him back a’
his lands, and gied him the princess, his daughter, in marriage."
