"And here's a bloody hand to shake, And oh, man, here's good-bye; We'll sweat no more on scythe and rake, My bloody hands and I." "I wish you strength to bring you pride, And a love to keep you clean, And I wish you luck, come lammastide, At racing on the green."
"A Shropshire Lad"
A. E. Housman Commentator: William Stanley Braithwaite
In the English, and in all Scots versions, men "win their hay" at lammastide.
"Sir Walter Scott and the Border Minstrelsy"
Andrew Lang