The Alewife and her Barrel
Once called
The Yillwife and her Barrles
, the following is a slightly later version of a husband’s lament:
My mind is vexed and sair perplex’d,
I’ll tell you a’ that grieves me;
A drunken wife I ha’e at hame,
Her noisome din aye deaves me.
Chorus
The alewife, the ale drunken wife,
The alewife she grieves me;
My wife and her bar-re-lie
They’ll ruin me and deave me.
She takes her barrel on her back,
Her pint stoup in her hand, O,
And she is tae the market gane,
For to set up a stand, O.
And when she does come hame again,
She wades through girse and corn;
Says, “I maun hae anither pint,
Though I should bed the morn.”
She sets her barrel on the ground,
And travels but and ben, O;
I canna get my wifie keepit
Here awa’ at home, O.
From “Scotland Dances”, by Eugenia (Jeannie) Callander Sharp
(Used by permission.)