The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,

And maidens bleach their summer smocks,

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

WINTER. When icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;

Tu-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

890

900

When all aloud the wind doth blow,

And coughing drowns the parson's saw,

And birds sit brooding in the snow,

910

And Marion's nose looks red and raw,

900 the shepherd blows his nail] Cf. 3 Hen. VI, II, v, 3: "the shepherd

blowing of his nail.”

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;

Tu-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

ARM. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs 920 of Apollo. You that way, we this way.

[Exeunt.

912 roasted crabs] roasted crab apples. Cf. Mids. N. Dr., II, i, 47 : “And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,

In very likeness of a roasted crab."

916 keel] Cf. Marston's What you will (1607): "Faith, Dorsicus, my brain boils. Keel it, keel it, or all the fat's in the fire," i. e. stir, skim, or pour in something cold in order to prevent the pot from boiling over.