| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Spaewife |
| | | Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) |
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| OH, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— | |
| Why chops are guid to brander and nane sae guid to fry. | |
| An’ siller, that ’s sae braw to keep, is brawer still to gi’e. | |
| It ’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me. | |
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| Oh, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— | 5 |
| Hoo a’things come to be whaur we find them when we try, | |
| The lasses in their claes an’ the fishes in the sea. | |
| It ’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me. | |
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| Oh, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— | |
| Why lads are a’ to sell an’lasses a’ to buy; | 10 |
| An’ naebody for dacency but barely twa or three. | |
| It ’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me. | |
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| Oh, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— | |
| Gin death’s as shure to men as killin’ is to kye, | |
| Why God has filled the yearth sae fu’ o’ tasty things to pree. | 15 |
| It ’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me. | |
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| Oh, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— | |
| The reason o’ the cause an’ the wherefore o’ the why, | |
| Wi’ mony anither riddle brings the tear into my e’e. | |
| It ’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me. | 20 |
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