Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages

Gammer Gurton's Needle 17
Hodge: Nay, nay, there was a fouler fault – my Gammer gave me the dodge! 1
See'st not how 'Cham rent and torn – my heels, my knees, and my breech?
'Chad thought as Ich sat by the fire, help here and there a stitch; 2
But there I was pooped 3 indeed!
Diccon: Why, Hodge?
Hodge: Boots not, 4 man, to tell.
'Cham so dressed 5 amongst this sort of fools 'Chad better be in hell! 6
My Gammer, 'Cham ashamed to say, by God, served me not well!
Diccon: How so, Hodge?
Hodge: Has she not gone, trowest 7 now, and lost her nee'le?
Diccon: Her eel, Hodge? Who fished of late? That was a dainty dish! 8
Hodge: Tush, tush, her nee'le! Her nee'le! Her nee'le man! 'Tis neither flesh nor fish!
A little thing, with a hole in the end, as bright as any silver,
Small, long, sharp at the point, and straight as any pillar.
Diccon: I know not what the devil thou meanest! Thou bringest me more in doubt! 9
Hodge: Knowest thou not with what Tom Tailor's man sits broaching through a clout? 10
A nee'le! Nee'le! A nee'le! My Gammer's nee'le is gone!
Diccon: Her needle, Hodge? Now I smell thee! That was a chance alone! 11
By the Mass, thou hadst a shameful loss if it were but for thy breeches!
Hodge: Gog's soul, man, 'Chould give a crown 12 had it but three stitches!
Diccon: How sayest thou, Hodge? What should he have, again thy needle got? 13
Hodge: By m'father's soul, and 'Chad it, 'Chould give him a new groat! 1
1
Dodge: slip – Gammer is hiding from me.
2
'Chad thought . . . stitch: I had thought that while I sat by the fire (and could take off my pants) that she would help me by
taking a few stitches in the seat of my breeches.
3
Pooped: cheated, defeated (the metaphor is of a ship overtaken by a wave tall enough to break on the rear, or poop deck,
sinking the ship)
4 Boots not: It's useless
5 Dressed: ruined
6 Among this . . . in hell: I'm so miserable living with these fools that I'd rather be in hell.
7 Trowest: don't you think?
8 Her eel . . . dish: Her eel, Hodge? Who went fishing today? An eel is dainty food!
9 Thou bringest . . . doubt: You're just making me more confused.
10 Knowest thou . . . clout? Don't you know what Tom the Tailor's apprentice uses when he sticks it through a cloth?
11 Her needle . . . alone: Her needle, Hodge? Now I get you! That was bad luck!
12 'Chould give a crown: I'd pay a crown (a crown was a coin worth five shillings, or a quarter of a pound – a good bit of
money for a poor man!)
13 How sayest . . . got: Oh, really, Hodge? If someone found the needle, what would he get?