Gammer Gurton has lost her only needle while mending her servant Hodge’s breeches, and the mischief-making Diccon the Bedlam persuades her neighbour Dame Chat that she has stolen it. Accusations, brawls and a bungled conjuring follow before the needle turns up in a most uncomfortable place. Written for a Cambridge college in the mid-sixteenth century, it is attributed to a “Mr. S.”, perhaps William Stevenson.
A landmark of early English drama in this Farmer edition with notes and a word-list, earthy and still funny. Download the free EPUB.