ANONYMOUS
He. O BcJl my wife, why dost thou flyte?
Thou kens my cloak is very thin: It is so bare and over worn,
A cricket thereon cannot renn. Then I'll no longer borrow nor lend;
For once I'll new apparell'd be; To-morrow I'll to town and spend,
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. I would be loth to sec her pine.
Good husband, counsel take of me: It is not for us to go so fine
He. My cloak it was a very good cloak,
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: 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, Of children cither nine or ten:
flyte] scold. cloth in grain] scarlet cloth. sigh clout] a rag for straining.
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