Prethee for my sake let him have her,
Because to him the Græcians gave her;
To give a thing, and take a thing,
You know is the devil's gold-ring!
The proverb sometimes runs thus:
Give a thing, take a thing,
That's an old man's play-thing.
"A lee with a hatchet," as they say in the North, is a circumstantial self-evident falsehood, and so runs the proverb:
That's a lie with a latchet,
All the dogs in the town cannot match it.
Children say the following when one has been detected in any misrepresentation of a mischievous character—
Liar, liar, lick spit,
Your tongue shall be slit,
And all the dogs in the town
Shall have a little bit.
The following versions of the former rhyme are current in the North of England:
That's a lee wi' a latchet,
You may shut the door and catch it.
That's a lee wi' a lid on,
And a brass handle to tak houd on.
In Yorkshire a tell-tale is termed a pleen-pie, and there is a proverb current which is very similar to that given above: