"But nevertheless I'll be ruled by thee;

For this very moment I'll trudge up and down,

And borrow one, if there be one in the town."

So she went to the baker's, and thus she did say:

"O, lend me a cuckold's cap, neighbour, I pray,

For I'm going to set my miraculous hen,

And when that I've done with't, I'll bring it again."

The baker's wife answered, and thus she replied:

"Had I got such a thing, you should not be denied;

But these nineteen or twenty years I have been wed,