Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/310

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Three children, as I told, being eat;
Men, women, girls, and boys;
Sighing and sobbing, came to his lodging,
And made a hideous noyse,
Oh! save us all, More of More Hall,
Thou peerles Knight of these woods;
Do but slay this Dragon,
We 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 smiles about the mouth;
Hair as black as a sloe,
Both above and below,
With a blush her cheeks adorning;
To 'noynt 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 look't and big,
You would have thought him for to be
An Egyptian Porcu-pig;
He frighted all,
Cats, dogs, and all,
Each cow, each horse, each hog,