Gammer Gurton's Needle - Faculty & Staff Web Pages

Hodge: 'Chave it by the Mass, Gammer!
Gammer: What? Not my nee'le, Hodge?
Hodge: Your nee'le, Gammer! Your nee'le!
Gammer: No, fie! Dost but dodge! 1
Hodge: 'Cha found your nee'le, Gammer! Here in my hand be it!
Gammer: For all the loves on earth, Hodge, let me see it!
Hodge: Soft, 2 Gammer!
Gammer: Good Hodge!
Hodge: Soft, Ich say; tarry a while.
Gammer: Nay, sweet Hodge, say true, and do not me beguile. 3
Hodge: ‘Cham sure of it, Ich warrant you – it goes no more astray!
Gammer: Hodge, when I speak so fair, wilt still say me nay? 4
Hodge: Go near the light, Gammer, this was in fact good luck:
‘Chwas almost undone, ‘twas so far in my buttock!
Gammer: ‘Tis my own dear nee’le, Hodge, certainly I wot! 5
Hodge: ‘Cham not I a good son, 6 Gammer, ‘Cham I not?
Gammer Gurton's Needle 60
[They stand in the light coming from Gammer’s open
door, and Hodge hands over the needle]
Gammer: Christ’s blessing light on thee, hast made me [happy] forever!
Hodge: Ich knew that Ich must find it, else ‘Chould have had it never.
Chat: By my troth, gossip Gurton, I am even as glad
As though I my own self as good a turn had! 7
1
Dost but dodge: You're kidding me
2
Soft: take it carefully
3
Me beguile: lie to me
4
Hodge, when . . . nay?: Hodge, when I’m asking so nicely, will you still say you won’t give it to me?
5
Wot: know it
6
Son: young man
7
As good a turn had: had the same good luck