| |
| ABOUT the time that taverns shut | |
| And men can buy no beer, | |
| Two lads went up to the keepers’ hut | |
| To steal Lord Pelham’s deer. | |
| |
| Night and the liquor was in their heads— | 5 |
| They laughed and talked no bounds, | |
| Till they waked the keepers on their beds | |
| And the keepers loosed the hounds. | |
| |
| They had killed a hart, they had killed a hind, | |
| Ready to carry away, | 10 |
| When they heard a whimper down the wind | |
| And they heard a bloodhound bay. | |
| |
| They took and ran across the fern, | |
| Their crossbows in their hand, | |
| Till they met a man with a green lantern | 15 |
| That called and bade ’em stand. | |
| |
| “What are ye doing, O Flesh and Blood, | |
| And what’s your foolish will, | |
| That you must break into Minepit Wood | |
| And wake the Folk of the Hill?” | 20 |
| |
| “Oh, we’ve broke into Lord Pelham’s park, | |
| And killed Lord Pelham’s deer, | |
| And if ever you heard a little dog bark | |
| You’ll know why we come here. | |
| |
| “We ask you let us go our way, | 25 |
| As fast as we can flee, | |
| For if ever you heard a bloodhound bay | |
| You’ll know how pressed we be.” | |
| |
| “Oh, lay your crossbows on the bank | |
| And drop the knife from your hand, | 30 |
| And though the hounds are at your flank | |
| I’ll save you where you stand!” | |
| |
| They laid their crossbows on the bank, | |
| They threw their knives in the wood, | |
| And the ground before them opened and sank | 35 |
| And saved ’em where they stood. | |
| |
| “Oh, what’s the roaring in our ears | |
| That strikes us well-nigh dumb?” | |
| “Oh, that is just how things appears | |
| According as they come.” | 40 |
| |
| “What are the stars before our eyes | |
| That strike us well-nigh blind?” | |
| “Oh, that is just how things arise | |
| According as you find.” | |
| |
| “And why’s our bed so hard to the bones | 45 |
| Excepting where it’s cold?” | |
| “Oh, that’s because it is precious stones | |
| Excepting where ’tis gold. | |
| |
| “Think it over as you stand, | |
| For I tell you without fail, | 50 |
| If you haven’t got into Fairyland | |
| You’re not in Lewes Gaol.” | |
| |
| All night long they thought of it, | |
| And, come the dawn, they saw | |
| They’d tumbled into a great old pit, | 55 |
| At the bottom of Minepit Shaw. | |
| |
| And the keeper’s hound had followed ’em close, | |
| And broke her neck in the fall; | |
| So they picked up their knives and their crossbows | |
| And buried the dog. That’s all. | 60 |
| |
| But whether the man was a poacher too | |
| Or a Pharisee 1 so bold— | |
| I reckon there’s more things told than are true, | |
| And more things true than are told! | |
