The Haggis

The Haggis; Native to the hilly terrains of Scotland. Taigeis in scottish Gaelic. (pronounced tack-ai-sh)... we won't mention the colloquial meaning! Not always easy to spot, they like to sit in the opening of their burrows, their ears and noses hidden amongst the heathers' purple-pinks and bracken yellow flowers.

When I was a wee lass, I thought our famous bard, Rabbie Burns, wrote about a Haggis when he penned ‘ wee sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie’, for I clearly never paid any heed to the title of the poem, and I had seen many a haggis on the hillsides of Arthur’s Seat in the heart of Edinburgh when playing with my sisters. As described they were indeed sneaky, feart and timid, however not so feart that they wouldn't venture towards a picnic! I lost many a jam piece* that way, at least that's what my sisters told me. We never managed to catch one though for they could run at a fair pelt, wee blurs o’ ginger fur. Sure footed they were too but only in a clockwise direction mind you foreby their left legs grew longer than their right to traverse the steep sides of hills and mountains of Scotland. Only once did I ever see one fall, changing direction for the opening of my crisp packet but my dad said it was just rolling scree tumbling down the hillside but I knew what I saw and held on tighter to my packet of cheese and onion.

*sandwich.

Measuring a cute 45x50mm