Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/309



For houses and churches Were to him gorse and burches, He eat all and left none behind, But some stones, dear Jack, Which he could not crack, Which on the hills you will find. In Yorkshire fair, near Rotherham, The place I know it well; Some two or three miles or thereabout, I vow I cannot tell; But there is a ledge Just on the hill edge, And Matthew's house hard by it; Oh! 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 the Devil; For from his nose a smoke arose, And with it burning snivil; Which he cast off, When he did cough; In a well which 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 staff, Kick, cuff, box, huff, Call son of a witch, 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 was stranger, He, for very anger, Eat him all up but his head!