| |
| WHA’LL buy my caller herrin’? | |
| They’re bonnie fish and halesome farin’; | |
| Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’, | |
| New drawn frae the Forth? | |
| |
| When ye were sleepin’ on your pillows, | 5 |
| Dream’d ye aught o’ our puir fellows, | |
| Darkling as they faced the billows, | |
| A’ to fill the woven willows? | |
| |
| Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’? | |
| They’re no brought here without brave daring; | 10 |
| Buy my caller herrin’, | |
| Haul’d through wind and rain. | |
| |
| Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’? | |
| Oh, ye may ca’ them vulgar farin’, | |
| Wives and mithers maist despairing, | 15 |
| Ca’ them lives o’ men. | |
| |
| When the creel o’ herrin’ passes, | |
| Ladies, clad in silks and laces, | |
| Gather in their braw pelisses, | |
| Cast their heads and screw their faces. | 20 |
| |
| Caller herrin’s no got lightlie, | |
| Ye can trip the spring fu’ tightlie, | |
| Spite o’ tauntin’, flauntin’, flingin’, | |
| Gow has set you a’ a-singing. | |
| |
| Neebour wives, now tent my tellin’: | 25 |
| When the bonny fish ye’re sellin’, | |
| At ae word be in yere dealin’— | |
| Truth will stand when a’ thing’s failin’. | |
| |
| Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’? | |
| They’re bonny fish and halesome farin’; | 30 |
| Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’, | |
| New drawn frae the Forth? | |
| |
