THE following anecdote was told by a son of the blacksmith referred to –
“When Burns was residing in Ellisland he used to get the most of his blacksmith-work done at a place called Roads, near the village of Dalswinton. The smith’s name was Kilpatrick, and he also kept a little public-house. On one occasion, while visiting the ‘smiddy,’ which was as usual filled with a number of the village gossips, ‘Roads’ (as the blacksmith was generally called) challenged Burns to compose an epitaph to be placed on his tombstone.
Burns, in a jocular manner, replied, “It would be an easy matter to do that. Just tell them to put on it –
‘Below this sod lies drucken Road –
A man that ne’er lo’ed to drink water;
The canty jill aye kittled his mill,
An’ made his tongue gang clitter-clatter.’ ”
