The fish-hake isn't a hook, it's a frame for drying fish, made of wood, like the gate, hence the reference to "firing", = fuel. The food is the skate; what she was to do with the top hat we can only guess. But the variant verse is interesting--only thing is, it isn't in the pattern of the rest, which I assure you is the "right" version. David Rorie was a bard of the North-East of Scotland, circa 1910 maybe, who wrote several good poems, including "MacFadden and MacPhee", which may be on one of Jean Redpath's records--she certainly used to sing it with gusto, to the (English) tune of "Barbara Allan".