Tak your auld cloak about ye/Tak your auld cloak about ye

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 threatning a' our kye to kill;
Then Bell, my wife, wha loes nae strife,
⁠She said to me, right hastily,
Get up, gudeman, save Crummy's life,
⁠And tak your auld cloak about ye.

My Crummy is a usefu' cow,
⁠And she is come of a good kin',
Aft has she wet the bairn's mou',
⁠And I am laith that she should tine.
Get up, gudeman, it is fu' time;
⁠The sun shines in the lift sae hie;
Sloth never made a gracious end,
⁠Sae tak your auld cloak about ye.

My cloak was ance 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 thretty year.
Let's spend the gear that we hae won,
⁠We little ken the day we'll die;
Then I'll be proud, since I hae sworn,
⁠To hae a new cloak about me.

In days when our King Robert rang,
⁠His trews they cost but hauf-a-crown;
He said they were a groat owre dear,
⁠And ca'd they tailor thief and loun.
He was the king that wore the crown,
⁠And thou a man o' low degree;
It's pride puts a' the country down,
⁠Sae tak your auld cloak about ye.

Ev'ry land has its ain laugh,
⁠Ilk kind o' corn has its ain hool,
I think the warld's a' gaun daft,
⁠When ilka wife her man wad rule;
Do ye nae see Rob, Jock, and Hab,
⁠How they are girded gallantly,
While I sit hurklin in the ase?
⁠I'll hae a new cloak about me.

Gudeman, I wat it's thretty year
⁠Sin' we did ane anither ken,
And we hae had, between us twa,
⁠O' lads and bonny lasses ten;
Now they are women grown and men,
⁠I wish and pray, weel may they be;
And if you prove a good husband,
⁠E'en tak your auld cloak about ye.

Bell my wife, she loes na strife,
⁠But she wad guide if she can;
And to maintain an easy life,
⁠I aft maun yield, though I'm gudeman,
Nought's to be won at woman's hand,
⁠Unless ye gie her a' the plea;
Sae I’ll leave aff whare I began,
⁠And tak my auld cloak about me.