 The poem is found in the Reidpeth Manuscript and as a fragment in the Maitland Folio Manuscript.The poet opens with an appeal to the King which will occur as a refrain throughout the work,

A "yald" was a worn-out horse or jade and the phrase "yowllis yald" was apparently a disparaging term for someone dressed shabbily at Yule.He claims that, even if he were old, jaded cart-horse, put out to pasture in distant Strathnaver, he would still be given a horsecloth ("hous") and stall at Christmas.