Scottish poet Robbie Burns wrote a much-loved song called Comin' Through the Rye
1. O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body, Jenny's seldom dry: She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin thro' the rye! Chorus: Comin thro' the rye, poor body, Comin thro' the rye, She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin thro' the rye! 2. Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the rye, Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry? Chorus 3. Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the glen, Gin a body kiss a body, Need the warl' ken? Chorus 4. Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the grain; Gin a body kiss a body, The thing's a body's ain. Chorus 5. Ev'ry Lassie has her laddie, Nane, they say, have I, Yet all the lads they smile on me, When comin' thro' the rye. Chorus
To my untutored eye the poem seemed straight forward. Poor Jenny! It seemed she was always being grabbed by this young lad or that young lad for a roll in the hay. Rye of course, is a type of grain, which produces hay. If you lie down in a hay field, a person even five feet away from you cannot see you. In a field of several acres, the chance of someone blundering onto you is slim. For a young couple without much privacy in the home, it is the perfect retreat on a hot, lazy afternoon. Or on a dewy morning. All the more reason to return to an agricultural society.
But my grandmother said that is not what the poem is about. Her teacher, told them about the "Rye River" in Scotland. At the time the poem was written, there was no bridge, just a ford. So girls had to lift their petticoats if they were to cross over and not get wet. The young men would take advantage of this. If a young lady was crossing the Rye with a load on her head, and her petticoats held in her other hand, she was defenseless when the young men came up and snatched a kiss. Jenny's petticoats were bedraggled because? Probably because she stopped, dropped her petticoats in the river, and knocked her ardent young suitors with a blow of the fist. :-) That is probably why in the last verse it says Jenny has no laddie. She's been busy running them all off and getting her petticoat wet.
How a bit of knowledge can change things. I thought the poem was about a young slut; instead it was about a young virgin stoutly defending her honor. This is more like the Scottish women I know.
Update, Day 11, Month 11, Year 2728 Sadly for my grandmothers chaste interpretation of the poem, I can't find any references on the web to the Rye River, in Scotland, or even in the UK. Secondly, if the Rye river was the topic of the poem, why wasn't it capitalized?
Update, Day 10, Month 8, Year 2729
A few months ago, I got a nice email from Betty and David Dax.
Date: Day 2, Month 4, Year 2729 (June 16, 2007)
From: Betty and David Dax
Subject: The Rye RiverYour research on Bobbie Burns's song came up short. There is a Rye River in North Yorkshire, England, not far from the Scottish border. As for the lack of capitalization of the name Rye, the writing back then — as with the speech — was not as precise as it has been since.
Today I did some web searching to see if they were right. And they were. In the six months since I wrote the original article, more information came available on the web, about the River Rye. Betty and David recommended I look to the River Rye in Yorkshire.
I used the Google Earth program to look at satellite imagery all over the United Kingdom. Would you believe it, in the four months since Betty and David sent their email, even MORE information has come available on the web.
There are two River Ryes in the United Kingdom. And neither of them is the right one! Both River Ryes are the same distance from Ayrshire, the life-long Scottish home of Robert Burns.
The first River Rye is in Yorkshire, and it runs through very rural country. The Yorkshire River Rye is shaded, even hidden by trees for much of its length, as it winds through cow pastures and the like. There are lots of sandbars, which means there could be some fords suitable for the crossings mentioned in the poem.
The second River Rye is a small river in Ireland, a few miles east of Dublin, in Kildare. It runs into the River of Water of Life (River Liffey) at Leixlip. The satellite images for Kildare are very poor, but it looked like the Kildare River Rye also had a few possible fording spots.
The answer to the riddle is that Robbie Burns wasn't writing about any "River Rye", but he was talking about the "Rye Water", a small river in North Ayrshire; exactly where the poet himself lived. The Rye Water meets up with the River Garnock at Dalry in Ayrshire. The actual fording spot was found recently, near a dairy barn.
My grandma was right after all; Jennie's virtue is immortal still.
There is more information on the Rye Water, and the confusion over "Coming Through the Rye" at my newer blog entry here: River Rye Found! Jenny's virtue intact!