Page:Wife of Beith (1).pdf/5

 Then down they went a right ſteep hill,

Where smoke and darkness did abound,

And pitch and sulphur burned still,

With yells and cries hills did rebound.

The fiend himself came to the gate,

And asked where he had been,

Do you not know and have forgot,

Seeking this wife could not be seen.

Good dame he said, Would you be here

I pray you then tell me your name?

The Wife of Beith, since that you speer,

But to come in I was to blame,

I will not have you hear good dame,

For ye are miſtress of the ſlyting,

If once within this gate you came,

I will be troubled with your biting;

Cummer go back, and let me be,

Here are too many of your rout;

For women lewed like unto thee,

I cannot turn my foot about.

Sir Thief, I say, I shall bide out.

But gossip thou wast ne'er to me,

For to come in, I'm not ſo ſtout

And of my biting thou'ſt be free,

But Lucifer what’s that to thee:

Haſt thou no water in this place?

Thou lookeſt ſo black it ſeems to me,

Thou ne'er doſt waſh thy ugly face,

If we had water here to drink,

We would not care for waſhing then,

Into theſe flames and filthy ſtink,

We burn with fire unto the doom: