Wee Bit Wifie
1.
There was a wee bit wifie,
Who lived in a shoe;
She had so many bairns,
She kenn'd na what to do.
She gaed to the market
To buy a sheep-head;
When she came back
They were a' lying dead.
She went to the wright
To get them a coffin;
When she came back
They were a' lying laughing.
She gaed up the stair,
To ring the bell;
The bell-rope broke,
And down she fell.
2.
There was an auld wife that lived in a shoe,
She had first twins, syne twins, and twice twins too;
She whippit them all soundly, and sent them to bed,
And when she went in she found them all dead.
She went to the vricht's to get a coffin made,
She thocht o' the bairns, but it was hersel' instead;
She gaed up the stair to ring the bell,
But slipp'd her fit and doon she fell,
And got the coffin to hersel.
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(1) Halliwell NRE (1842) 40 (lxiii), as a Scots version
of the well-known English rhyme. Somewhat more Scots in
Montgomerie SC 169 (no. 314).
(2) Rymour Club Misc. II (1912-19), 54, from Mintlaw,
Buchan, Aberdeenshire. An extra line is given from a
Forfar variant, "And was buried in the ase-hole."
Cf. ODNR 434 (no. 546).
MS
oct96
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!