Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent / Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border Counties

by Alexander Craig Gibson

Keàty Cūrbison’ cat hed of lives a lang lot—

Yè ma’ toak aboot nine—it hed ninety an’ mair;

It was preùf ageàn puzzen or pooder an’ shot—

They hed buriet it yance, but it still dudn’t care.

It was tiet iv a meal-bag an’ flung into t’ beck,

But t’ bag it brong heàm for it’ mistress a brat,

Limpin’, trailin’ ’t ahint it wi’ t’ string round it’ neck—

T’ beck cūdn’t droon Keàty Cūrbison’ cat.

Keàty Cūrbison’ cat browte oald Keàty to grief—

Pooar body! she nowder was cūmly nor rich—