But just a drappie in our e'e; [droplet]
The cock may craw, the day may daw, [crow, dawn]
And aye we'll taste the barley-bree. [brew]

Here are we met, three merry boys,
Three merry boys, I trow, are we;
And mony a night we've merry been,
And mony mae we hope to be! [more]

It is the moon, I ken her horn,
That's blinkin' in the lift sae hie; [shining, sky, high]
She shines sae bright to wyle us hame, [entice]
But, by my sooth! she'll wait a wee.

Wha first shall rise to gang awa, [go]
A cuckold, coward loun is he! [rascal]
Wha first beside his chair shall fa',
He is the King amang us three!

With greater daring and on a broader canvas Burns has dealt with the
same subject in _The Jolly Beggars_. For the literary treatment of the
theme he had hints from Ramsay, in whose _Merry Beggars_ and _Happy
Beggars_ groups of half a dozen male and female characters proclaim
their views and join in a chorus in praise of drink. More direct
suggestion for the setting of his "cantata" came from a night visit
made by the poet and two of his friends to the low alehouse kept by
Nancy Gibson ("Poosie Nansie") in Mauchline. The poem was written in
1785, but Burns never published it and seems almost to have forgotten
its existence.