304 BAEGAINING. 



find them climbing the Wlude Brae with a hundredweight, or 

 two hundredweight, perhaps, of fish, to be sold in driblets, for 

 a few pence, all through Edinburgh. 



The industry of fishwives is proverbial, their chief maxim 

 being, that " the woman that canna work for a man is no worth 

 ane ; " and accordingly they undertake the task of disposing of 

 the merchandise, and acting as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

 Their husbands have only to catch the fish, their labour being 

 finished as soon as the boats touch thg quay. The Newhaven 

 fishwife's mode of doing business is well known. She is always 

 supposed to ask double or triple what she will take ; ahd, on 

 occasions of bargaining she is sure, in allusion to the hazardous 

 nature of the gudeman's occupation, to tell her customers that 

 "fish are no fish the day, they're just men's lives." The style 

 of higgling adopted when dealing with the fisher-folk, if at- 

 tempted in other kinds of commerce, gives rise to the well- 

 known Scottish reproach of "D'ye tak' me for a fishwife?" 

 The style of bargain-making carried on by the fishwives may be 

 illustrated by the following little scene :— 



A servant girl having just beckoned to one of them, is 

 answered by the usual interrogatory, " What's yer wuU the day, 

 my bonnie lass 3" and the "mistress" being introduced, the 

 following conversation takes place : — 



"Come awa, mem, an' see what bonnie fish I hae the day^'' 



" Have you any haddocks?" 



" Ay hae I, mem, an' as bonnie fish as ever ye clappit yer 

 twa een on." 



" What's the price of these four small ones ?" 



" What's yer wull, mem?" 



" I wish these small ones.'' 



" What d'ye say, mem ? sma' baddies ! they's no sma' fish, 

 an they're the bonniest I hae in a' ma creel." 



" Well, never mind, what do you ask for them ?" 



"Weel, mem, its been awfu' wather o' late, an' the men 

 canna get fish ; ye'll no grudge me twentypence for thae four V 



" Twentypence ! " 



" Ay, mem ; what for no ? " 



" They are too dear ; I'll give — " 



" What d'ye say, mem ! ower dear ! I wish ye kent it : but 

 what'U ye gie me for thae four ?" 



" rU give you a sixpence." 



"Ye'll gie me a what?" 



