Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/308

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
The Dragon of Wantley.
265

A TRUE RELATION OF THE DREADFUL COMBATE BETWEEN MORE OF MORE HALL AND THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY.

Old stories tell how Hercules
A dragon slew at Lerna,
With seven heads and fourteen eyes,
To see and well discerna;
But he had a club
This dragon to drub,
Or he had ne'er don't, 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 Tayl,
As long as a Flayl,
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 inviron.
 
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,
Devour did he,
Poor children three,
That could not with him grapple;
And at one sup
He eat them up,
As one should eat an apple.
 
All sorts of cattle this Dragon did eat,
Some say he'd eat up trees,
And that the forest sure he would
Devour up by degrees.