THE WOOING
One morning bright and early a young cock from the next farm stepped into the barnyard where lived a certain young chick.
“Good day, Father Rooster,” said he.
“Many thanks, young sir,” said Father Rooster.
“I’ve come a-wooing. May I have your fair daughter Peep for my bride?”
“Ask Mother Hen, Brother Bantam, Sister Cluck, and fair Peep herself; and then we’ll see,” said Father Rooster.
“Where is Mother Hen?”
“She is sitting in the hay hatching her eggs.”
So away went young cock
With a fly and a leap,
So anxious was he
To marry fair Peep.
“Good day, Mother Hen,” said he.
“Many thanks, young sir,” said Mother Hen.
“I’ve come a-wooing. May I have your fair daughter Peep for my bride?”
“Ask Father Rooster, Brother Bantam, Sister Cluck, and fair Peep herself; then we’ll see,” said Mother Hen.
“Where is Brother Bantam?”
“He’s on the gate-post learning to crow.”
So away went young cock
With a fly and a leap,
So anxious was he
To marry fair Peep.
“Good day, Brother Bantam,” said he.
“Many thanks,” said the other.
“I’ve come a-wooing. May I have your fair sister Peep for my bride?”
“Ask Father Rooster, Mother Hen, Sister Cluck, and fair Peep herself; then we’ll see,” said Brother Bantam.
“Where is Sister Cluck?”
“She’s with fair Peep.”
“And where is fair Peep?”
“She’s with Sister Cluck.”
Well, away went young cock
With a fly and a leap,
So anxious was he
To marry fair Peep.
And when he came to two very close together, he said to one, “Good day, Sister Cluck.”
And one answered, “Many thanks, young sir.”
“I’ve come a-wooing. May I have your fair sister Peep for my bride?”
“Ask Father Rooster, Mother Hen, Brother Bantam, and fair Peep herself; then we’ll see,” said Sister Cluck.
“Fair Peep, wilt thou be my bride?” said he. And all the family came up to hear her answer and it wasn’t no, so it must have been yes.
“What hast thou to keep house on?” said Mother Hen to her daughter.
And Brother Bantam answered for her, “A sweet voice;” and Sister Cluck added, “A sweet temper.”
“With these to begin,”
Said Mother Hen,
“There’ll be no din.”
“What is thy trade, young Master Cock?” asked Father Rooster; “art thou a tailor?”
“Something else for my talents.”
“A blacksmith?”
“It suits me not.”
“Perhaps thou art a watchmaker.”
“No, but I’m a time-keeper; I tell people when it is time to rise and go about their work. Is it not a useful trade?”
“That it is.
“Gladly we give thee fair Peep,
To love and to keep
Safe in thy heart,
Till death do thee part.”
“Then come, thou, sweet wife,
My love and my life,
Step out by my side,
My bonny wee bride.”
As they took their way home
They stepped on a tin,
And the tin it bended,
So my story’s ended.
—Angela M. Keyes