| |
| THIS winter’s weather it waxeth cold, | |
| And frost it freezeth on every hill, | |
| And Boreas blows his blast so bold | |
| That all our cattle are like to spill. | |
| Bell, my wife, she loves no strife; | 5 |
| She said unto me quietlye, | |
| Rise up, and save cow Crumbock’s life! | |
| Man, put thine old cloak about thee! | |
| |
He.
O Bell my wife, why dost thou flyte? | |
| Thou kens my cloak is very thin: | 10 |
| It is so bare and over worn, | |
| A crickë thereon cannot renn. | |
| Then I’ll no longer borrow nor lend; | |
| For once I’ll new apparell’d be; | |
| Tomorrow I’ll to town and spend; | 15 |
| For I’ll have a new cloak about me. | |
| |
She.
Cow Crumbock is a very good cow: | |
| She has been always true to the pail; | |
| She has helped us to butter and cheese, I trow, | |
| And other things she will not fail. | 20 |
| I would be loth to see her pine. | |
| Good husband, counsel take of me: | |
| It is not for us to go so fine— | |
| Man, take thine old cloak about thee! | |
| |
He.
My cloak it was a very good cloak, | 25 |
| It hath been always true to the wear; | |
| But now it is not worth a groat: | |
| I have had it four and forty year.’ | |
| Sometime it was of cloth in grain: | |
| ‘Tis now but a sigh clout, as you may see: | 30 |
| It will neither hold out wind nor rain; | |
| And I’ll have a new cloak about me. | |
| |
She.
It is four and forty years ago | |
| Sine the one of us the other did ken; | |
| And we have had, betwixt us two, | 35 |
| Of children either nine or ten: | |
| We have brought them up to women and men: | |
| In the fear of God I trow they be. | |
| And why wilt thou thyself misken? | |
| Man, take thine old cloak about thee! | 40 |
| |
He.
O Bell my wife, why dost thou flyte? | |
| Now is now, and then was then: | |
| Seek now all the world throughout, | |
| Thou kens not clowns from gentlemen: | |
| They are clad in black, green, yellow and blue, | 45 |
| So far above their own degree. | |
| Once in my life I’ll take a view; | |
| For I’ll have a new cloak about me. | |
| |
She.
King Stephen was a worthy peer; | |
| His breeches cost him but a crown; | 50 |
| He held them sixpence all too dear, | |
| Therefore he called the tailor ‘lown.’ | |
| He was a king and wore the crown, | |
| And thou’se but of a low degree: | |
| It’s pride that puts this country down: | 55 |
| Man, take thy old cloak about thee! | |
| |
He.
Bell my wife, she loves not strife, | |
| Yet she will lead me, if she can; | |
| And to maintain an easy life | |
| I oft must yield, though I’m good-man. | 60 |
| It’s not for a man with a woman to threap, | |
| Unless he first give o’er the plea: | |
| As we began, so will we keep, | |
| And I’ll take my old cloak about me. | |
| |
