The clucking conversation of poultry, the cackling of the hen, and the replying chuckle of the cock, is represented by the following dialogue:

Hen.

Cock, cock, I have la-a-a-yed!

Cock.

Hen, hen, that's well sa-a-a-yed!

Hen.

Although I have to go barefooted every da-a-y!

Cock (con spirito).

Sell your eggs, and buy shoes,

Sell your eggs, and buy shoes!

Mr. Chambers, p. 167, has given a very different version of this current in Scotland. In Galloway, the hen's song is:

The cock gaed to Rome, seeking shoon, seeking shoon,

The cock gaed to Rome, seeking shoon,

And yet I aye gang barefit, barefit!

The following proverb is current in the North of England:

If the cock moult before the hen,

We shall have weather thick and thin;

But if the hen moult before the cock,

We shall have weather hard as a block.