Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages
Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages
Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages
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<strong>Gammer</strong> <strong>Gurton's</strong> <strong>Needle</strong> 36<br />
<strong>Gammer</strong>: Nay, nay, 'Cham sure she lost not all, for set th' end to the beginning,<br />
And Ich doubt not but she will make small boast of her winning. 1<br />
[They start to go slowly in]<br />
THE THIRD ACT<br />
The Third Scene<br />
[Tyb hurriedly enters and meets Hodge and <strong>Gammer</strong><br />
near the door to <strong>Gammer</strong>'s house]<br />
Tyb: See, <strong>Gammer</strong>, <strong>Gammer</strong>, Gib, our cat! 'Cham afraid what she aileth!<br />
She stands me gasping behind the door,<br />
As though her wind her faileth!<br />
Now let Ich doubt what Gib should mean, that now she doth so dote! 2<br />
Hodge: Hold hither! 3 Ich hold twenty pound a year your nee'le is in her throat!<br />
[He takes the cat and squeezes her]<br />
Grope her, Ich say! Methinks 4 Ich feel it. Does not prick your hand?<br />
<strong>Gammer</strong>: [she feels the cat] Ich can feel nothing!<br />
Hodge: No? Ich knows there's not within this land<br />
A murrainer 5 cat than Gib is, between the Thames and Tyne;<br />
She's as much wit within her head – almost – as Ich have in mine!<br />
Tyb: Faith, she's eaten something that will not easily go down,<br />
Whether she got it at home or abroad in the town,<br />
Ich cannot tell!<br />
<strong>Gammer</strong>: Alas, Ich fear it be some crooked pin!<br />
And then farewell, Gib! She is undone, and lost – all save the skin. 6<br />
Hodge: 'Tis your nee'le, woman, I lay! 7 Gog's soul, give me a knife,<br />
And 'Chi'll have it out of her maw, or else 'Chall lose my life!<br />
<strong>Gammer</strong>: What! Nay, Hodge, fie! Kill not our cat! 'Tis all the cats we have now!<br />
Hodge: By the Mass, Dame Chat has me so moved Ich care not what I kill, make God a<br />
vow!<br />
Go to, then Tyb! To this gear! Hold up her tail, and take her!<br />
'Chi'll see what's in her guts! 'Chi'll take the pains to rake her! 8<br />
1<br />
That is, "No, no, I'm sure she didn't think she lost at all. Take the whole fight, beginning to end, and I'm sure she'll be<br />
boasting about how she beat me."<br />
2<br />
Tyb says that Gib is heaving behind the door – as though coughing up a hairball. She wonders what this means.<br />
3<br />
Hold hither: Hand her over!<br />
4<br />
Methinks: Seems to me<br />
5<br />
Murrainer: more cursed<br />
6<br />
That is, if the poor cat has swallowed a pin and dies, <strong>Gammer</strong> will at least skin her for the fur.<br />
7 Lay: bet<br />
8 Rake her: scrape her out
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