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THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY, by                    
First Line: "old stories tell, how hercules"
Last Line: "so groaned kicked, spat, and died"


OLD stories tell, how Hercules
A dragon slew at Lerna,
With seven heads, and fourteen eyes,
To see and well discern-a:
But he had a club, this dragon to drub,
Or he had ne'er done it, I warrant ye:
But More of More-Hall, with nothing at all,
He slew the dragon of Wantley.

This dragon had two furious wings,
Each one upon each shoulder;
With a sting in his tail, as long as a flail,
Which made him bolder and bolder.
He had long claws, and, in his jaws,
Four-and-forty teeth of iron;
With a hide as tough as any buff,
Which did him round environ.

Have you not heard that the Trojan horse
Held seventy men in his belly?
This dragon was not quite so big,
But very near, I'll tell ye.
Devoured he poor children three,
That could not with him grapple;
And, at one sup, he ate them up,
As one would eat an apple.

All sorts of cattle this dragon did eat;
Some say he'd eat up trees,
And that the forests sure he would
Devour up by degrees:
For houses and churches were to him geese and turkeys,
He ate all, and left none behind,
But some stones, dear Jack, which he could not crack,
Which on the hills you will find.

In Yorkshire, near fair Rotherham,
The place I know it well;
Some two or three miles, or thereabouts,
I vow I cannot tell;
But there is a hedge, just on the hill edge,
And Mathew's house hard by it;
O there and then was this dragon's den,
You could not choose but spy it.

Some say, this dragon was a witch;
Some say, he was a devil,
For from his nose a smoke arose,
And with it burning snivel,
Which he cast off, when he did cough,
In a well that he did stand by
Which made it look, just like a brook
Running with burning brandy.

Hard by a furious knight there dwelt,
Of whom all towns did ring,
For he could wrestle, play at quarter-staff, kick, cuff and huff,
Call drinks by the score, do any kind of thing:
By the tail and the main, with his hands twain
He swung a horse till he was dead;
And that which is stranger, he for very anger
Ate him all up but his head.

These children, as I told, being eat;
Men, women, girls, and boys,
Sighing and sobbing, came to his lodging,
And made a hideous noise:
'O save us all, More of More-Hall,
Thou peerless knight of these woods;
Do but slay this dragon, who won't leave us a rag on,
We'll give thee all our goods.'

'Tut, tut," quoth he, 'no goods I want;
But I want, I want, in sooth,
A fair maid of sixteen, that's brisk, and keen,
With smiles about the mouth;
Hair black as a sloe, both above and below,
With a blush her cheeks adorning;
To 'noint me o'er night, ere I go to fight,
And to dress me in the morning.'

This being done, he did engage
To hew this dragon down;
But first he went new armour to
Bespeak at Sheffield-town;
With spikes all about, not within but without,
Of steel so sharp and strong;
Both behind and before, arms, legs, all o'er;
Some five or six inches long.

Had you but seen him in this dress,
How fierce he looked and big;
You would have thought him for to be
An Egyptian porcupig:
He frighted all, cats, dogs, and all;
Each cow, each horse, and each hog
For fear did flee, for they took him to be
Some strange outlandish hedge-hog.

To see this fight all people there
Got up on trees and houses,
On churches some, and chimneys too;
But they put on their trouses,
Not to spoil their hose. As soon as he rose,
To make him strong and mighty,
He drank, by the tale, six pots of ale,
And a quart of aqua-vitæ.

It is not strength that always wins,
For with doth strength excel;
Which made our cunning champion
Creep down into a well;
Where he did think, this dragon would drink;
And so he did in truth;
And as he stooped low, he rose up and cried, boh!
And hit him in the mouth.

Our politic knight, on the other side,
Crept out upon the brink,
And gave the dragon such a douse,
He knew not what to think:
'By Gad,' quoth he, 'say you so, do you see?'
And then at him he let fly
With hand and with foot, and so they went to't;
And the word it was, Hey boys, hey!

'Your words,' quoth the dragon, 'I don't understand.'
Then to it they fell at all,
Like two wild boars so fierce, if I may
Compare great things with small.
Two days and a night, with this dragon did fight
Our champion on the ground;
Though their strength it was great, yet their skill it was neat,
They never had one wound.

At length the hard earth began to quake,
The dragon gave him such a knock,
Which made him reel, and straightway he thought,
To lift him as high as a rock,
And thence let him fall: but More of More-Hall,
Like a valiant son of Mars,
As he came like a lout, so he turned him about,
And hit him a kick on the nose.

'Oh!' quoth the dragon, with a deep sigh,
And turned six times together,
Sobbing and tearing, cursing and swearing
Out of his throat of leather,
'More of More-Hall! O thou rascal!
Would I had seen thee never;
With the thing at thy foot, thou hast pierced my nut,
And I'm quite undone for ever.

Murder, murder,' the dragon cried,
'Alack, alack, for grief;
Had you but missed that place, you could
Have done me no mischief.'
Then his head he shaked, trembled and quaked,
And down he lay and cried;
First on one knee, then on back tumbled he,
So groaned, kicked, spat, and died.





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