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| THE AULD 1 wife sat at her ivied door, | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| A thing she had frequently done before; | |
| And her spectacles lay on her aproned knees. | |
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| The piper he piped on the hill-top high, | 5 |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| Till the cow said “I die” and the goose asked “Why;” | |
| And the dog said nothing but searched for fleas. | |
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| The farmer he strode through the square farmyard; | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | 10 |
| His last brew of ale was a trifle hard, | |
| The connection of which with the plot one sees. | |
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| The farmer’s daughter hath frank blue eyes, | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| She hears the rooks caw in the windy skies, | 15 |
| As she sits at her lattice and shells her peas. | |
| |
| The farmer’s daughter hath ripe red lips; | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| If you try to approach her, away she skips | |
| Over tables and chairs with apparent ease. | 20 |
| |
| The farmer’s daughter hath soft brown hair; | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| And I met with a ballad, I can’t say where, | |
| Which wholly consists of lines like these. | |
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| She sat with her hands ’neath her dimpled cheeks, | 25 |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| And spake not a word. While a lady speaks | |
| There is hope, but she didn’t even sneeze. | |
| |
| She sat with her hands ’neath her crimson cheeks | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | 30 |
| She gave up mending her father’s breeks, | |
| And let the cat roll in her best chemise. | |
| |
| She sat with her hands ’neath her crimson cheeks | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| And gazed at the piper for thirteen weeks; | 35 |
| Then she followed him out o’er the misty leas. | |
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| Her sheep followed her as their tails did them | |
| (Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese) | |
| And this song is considered a perfect gem, | |
| And as to the meaning, it ’s what you please. | 40 |
