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

An’ she cocks up her chin an’ says, “M’appen I may!

M’appen I may, my lad, m’appen I may;

There’s nowte here to crack on, an’ m’appen I may!”

She’s smart oot o’ dooars—she’s tidy i’t’ hoose;

Snod as a mowdy-warp—sleek as a moose.

I’ blue goon, i’ black goon, i’ green goon or grey,

I tell her she’s reeght, an’ git “M’appen I may!”

“M’appen I may,” she’ll say, “m’appen I may,

Thou kens lal aboot it, but m’appen I may!”

There’s nūt mickle on her,—we ken ’at gud stuff