- frog; toad. Puddocks are much celebrated in Scottish literature. From the Frogs of Aristophanes translated into Scots by A. L. Taylor we have a vivid account of
the rummle and the whummle
O the puddocks as we tummle
Doon the drain in the Rain!
Again based on Greek, we have Aesop's fables elaborately retold by Robert Henryson and, in The Tale of the Paddock and the Mous, we see the paddock through the mouse's eyes:
Hir runkillit cheikis and hir lippis syde,
[Her wrinkled cheeks and her hanging lips]
Hir hingand browis and hir voce sae hace
[her hanging brows and her voice so hoarse]
Hir loggerand leggis and hir harsky hyde
[her loose legs and her rough skin].
Frog spawn, puddock cruds or croots, had uses both medicinally as a remedy for gout:
rub yer fit [foot] wi't, an a' the time ye'r rubbin't keep sayin - Paddick cruds and snail broo; Confoond the deil an cure the goo [gout]
(R. DE B. TROTTER Galloway Gossip 1901)
and for long-term weather forecasting:
Gin the puddock croot be at the lip o' the stank [ditch], it'll be a weet spring
(Buchan Observer 22 August 1950)