Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages

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Gammer Gurton's Needle 10 Gammer: Ah, Hodge, Hodge! If that Ich could find my nee'le, by the reed, 1 'Chould 2 sew thy breeches, Ich promise thee, with full good double thread. And set a patch on either knee should last these months twain. 3 Now God and good Saint Sithe 4 I pray to send it home again! Hodge: Whereto served your hands and eyes but this your nee'le to keep? 5 What devil had you else to do? You kept, Ich wot, no sleep! 6 'Cham fain abroad to dig and delve, in water, mire, and clay, Sossing and possing in the dirt still from day to day; 7 A hundred things that be abroad, 'Cham set to see them well – And four of you sit idle at home and cannot keep a nee'le! Gammer: My nee'le, alas! Ich lost it, Hodge, what time Ich me up-hasted 8 To save the milk set up for thee, which Gib our cat hath wasted. Hodge: The devil he burst both Gib and Tyb, with all the rest! 'Cham always sure of the worst end, whoever have the best! Where have you been fidgeting abroad since you your nee'le lost? Gammer: Within the house, and at the door, sitting by this same post, Where I was looking a long hour before these folks came here. But welaway! 9 All was in vain; my nee'le is never the nearer! Hodge: Set me a candle; let me seek and grope wherever it be. Gog's heart, you be so foolish, Ich think you know it not when it you see! Gammer: Come hither, Cocke! What, Cocke, I say! Cocke: How, Gammer! [Gammer's boy servant Cocke enters from the house] 1 Reed: cross 2 'Chould: Ich would, I would 3 These months twain: the next two months 4 Saint Sithe: Saint Swithen? 5 Whereto served. . . keep? Why else did you have hands and eyes but to hang onto this needle? 6 You kept . . . sleep! You didn't, I know (Ich wot) get any sleep! (So why weren't you watching your needle?) 7 'Cham fain . . . day: I'm sent out to work with shovel and pick in the water, in the mud, and in the clay, splashing and getting stuck in the dirt continuously from day to day. 8 Up-hasted: hurriedly jumped up 9 Welaway: alas; too bad
Gammer Gurton's Needle 11 Gammer: Go hie thee soon, And grope behind the old brass pan; which thing when thou hast done, There shalt find and old shoe; wherein, if thou look well, Thou shalt find lying an inch of white tallow candle. Light it, and bring it tight away. Cocke: That shall be done anon. 1 [Cocke exits back into the house] Gammer: Nay, tarry, 2 Hodge, 'til thou hast light, and then we'll seek each one. 3 Hodge: Come away, you whoreson 4 boy! Are you asleep? You must have a crier! 5 Cocke: I cannot get the candle lighted; here is almost no fire. 6 Hodge: 'Chi'll hold 7 thee a penny 'Chi'll make thee come if that Ich may catch thine ears! 8 Art deaf, thou whoreson boy? Cocke, I say, why canst not hear? Gammer: Beat him not, Hodge, but help the boy, and come you two together. [Hodge exits by rushing inside the house.] THE FIRST ACT The Fifth Scene [Gammer remains. Tyb enters. Cocke and Hodge will enter later.] Gammer: How now, Tyb? Quick, let's hear what news thou hast brought hither! Tyb: 'Chave tossed and tumbled yonder heap over and over again, And winnowed 9 it through my fingers as men would winnow grain, Not so much as a hen's turd but in pieces I tore it, Or what so ever clod or clay I found, I did not spare it, Looking within and eke 10 without to find your nee'le, alas! But all in vain and without help. Your nee'le is where it was! 11 1 Anon: at once 2 Tarry: wait 3 Then we'll seek each one: Then we'll both search (for the needle) 4 Whoreson: "son of a whore." A common insult of the time. 5 You must have a crier: You need someone formally sent to call you and wake you up! 6 Cocke is trying to light the candle from the embers left in the fireplace, but is having no luck. 7 'Chi'll hold: I'll bet. 'Chi'll is pronounced to rhyme with will. The initial sound, -ch, is not a hard one, as in child, but more like the sound in the German word ich. 8 'Chi'll hold . . . ears! "I'll bet you a penny I can make you come if I slap you around your ears!" 9 Winnowing is separating the chaff (husks) of grain from the kernels; Tyb has been sifting through all the dust and dirt she dumped after cleaning the house. 10 Eke: also 11 Your nee'le . . . was: Your needle is still lost.
Page 1 and 2: Gammer Gurton's Needle: A Modern Sp
Page 3 and 4: THE PROLOGUE As Gammer Gurton with
Page 5 and 6: [He starts toward Dame Chat's ale-h
Page 7 and 8: THE FIRST ACT The Third Scene [Hodg
Page 9: Gammer Gurton's Needle 9 Hodge: Now
Page 13 and 14: Gammer: It is the cat's eyes, fool,
Page 15 and 16: Back and side, go bare, go bare, Bo
Page 17 and 18: Gammer Gurton's Needle 17 Hodge: Na
Page 19 and 20: Diccon: Then needs must force us bo
Page 21 and 22: THE SECOND ACT The Second Scene [Di
Page 23 and 24: Diccon: What, soft, I say! Be still
Page 25 and 26: Gammer Gurton's Needle 25 Hodge: Go
Page 27 and 28: Gammer Gurton's Needle 27 Gammer: I
Page 29 and 30: Gammer Gurton's Needle 29 THE THIRD
Page 31 and 32: Gammer Gurton's Needle 31 THE THIRD
Page 33 and 34: Gammer Gurton's Needle 33 Chat: I t
Page 35 and 36: Gammer Gurton's Needle 35 Gammer: W
Page 37 and 38: Gammer: Rake a cat, Hodge! What wou
Page 39 and 40: Gammer: By Gys, Master, ‘Cham not
Page 41 and 42: Gammer Gurton's Needle 41 Diccon: "
Page 43 and 44: Diccon: Watch well, for the knave w
Page 45 and 46: D. Rat: Help, Diccon! Out, alas! I
Page 47 and 48: D. Rat: I think I am little better;
Page 49 and 50: D. Rat: Alas, sir, ask you that? Is
Page 51 and 52: Gammer Gurton's Needle 51 [Scapethr
Page 53 and 54: Gammer: Yet shall ye find no other
Page 55 and 56: D. Rat: God's sacrament, the villai
Page 57 and 58: Bailey: Yea, but it was thy drift t
Page 59 and 60: [Bailey continues:] And likewise bo
Page 61:
Bailey: And I, by my conscience, to
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