Tak your auld cloak about ye

In winter when the rain rain'd cauld,

And frost and snaw on ilka hill,

And Boreas wi' his blasts sae bauld,

Was threat'ning o' our kye to kill;

Then Bell my wife, wha loves na strife,

She said to me right hastily,

"Get up, gudeman, save Cromie's life,

And tak' your auld cloak about ye.

"My Cromie is a usefu' cow,

And she is come of a good kine!

Aft hath she wet the bairnies' mou',

And I am laith that she should tyne.

Get up, gudeman, it is fu' time,

The sun shines in the lift sae hie;

Sloth never made a gracious end,

Go tak' your auld cloak about ye."

"My cloak was anes a gude grey cloak,

When it was fitting for my wear;

But now it's scantly worth a groat,

For I hae worn't this thirty year;

Let's spend the gear that we have won,

We little ken the day we'll die:

Then I'll be proud, since I have sworn

To have a new cloak about me."

"In days when our King Robert rang,

His trews they cost but half a crown;

He said they were a groat o'er dear,

And call'd the tailor thief and loun.

He was the king that wore a crown,

And thou'rt a man of laigh degree;

'Tis pride puts a' the country down,

Sae tak' your auld cloak about ye."

"Every land has its ain laugh,

Ilk kind o' corn it has its hool;

I think the warld is a' run wrang,

When ilka wife her man wad rule.

Do ye not see Rob, Jock, and Hab,

As they are girded gallantly,

While I sit hurklen in the ase;

I'll have a new cloak about me!"

"Gudeman, I wat 'tis thirty years

Since we did ane anither ken;

And we have had between us twa',

0f lads and bonny lasses ten:

Now they are women grown and men,

I wish and pray well may they be;

And if you prove a good husband,

E'en tak' your auld cloak about ye."

Bell my wife, she loves na strife,

But she wad guide me, if she can;

And to maintain an easy life,

I aft maun yield, tho' I'm gudeman.

Nought's to be won at woman's hand,

Unless ye give her a' the plea;

Then I'll leave off where I began,

And tak' my auld cloak about me.