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Auld Wife 
Auld Wife 
1. "Auld wife, auld wife, Will ye go a-shearing?" 
"Speak a little louder, sir, I'm unco dull o' hearing." 
"Auld wife, auld wife, Wad ye tak a kiss?" "Yes, indeed, I will, sir; It wadna be amiss." 
2. "Auld wifie! auld wifie! Ye maun gang a-shearin'." 
"Speak a little looder, sir, I'm unco dull o' hearin'." 
"Auld wifie! auld wifie! I'm gaun to kiss ye!" 
"That's a hantle looder, sir, May a' the warld bless you!" 

(1) Chambers PRS (1847), 290; (1870), 158; Montgomerie SNR (1946), 119 (no. 149). The first stanza to be spoken in a loud voice, the second quite quietly. 

(2) Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11), 178, from Speymouth. (2 couplets.) A version of st. 1 from Argyll, in Maclagan (1901), 254: Auld wife, auld wife, are you gaun a shearing?/ Speak a wee thing looder, I'm a wee dull o' hearing. [See Herd MSS, 1776; ODNR 429, No. 536.] 

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