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THE BALLAD OF MINEPIT SHAW
315
'And why's our bed so hard to the bones
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
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,
At the bottom of Minepit Shaw.
And the keepers' 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.
But whether the man was a poacher too
Or a Pharisee so bold
I reckon there's more things told than are true.
And more things true than are told.
