The Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire: Transcribed from Private Manuscripts, Rare Broadsides, and Scarce Publications; with Notes and a Glossary
General
The Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire: Transcribed from Private Manuscripts, Rare Broadsides, and Scarce Publications; with Notes and a Glossary
Ballads, English -- England -- Yorkshire -- Texts; Songs, English -- England -- Yorkshire -- Texts
Gamkeepers com wi' dogs an' guns,
Thinking it was some comical beast;
An' they wad aither kill him or catch him,
Or drive him awa at least.
Sea into Lady wood right they went
Yah beautiful meenleet neet;
A lot o' great men an' a lot o' ruff dogs,
Enew a poor ghost to eat.
They watid lang--the ghost didn't come,
They began to laff an' rail,--
"If he cum oot ov hiz den," says yan,
"We'll clap a bit o' saut ov hiz tail."
"Nay he knoos better then turn oot,
When we are here to watch him,
He'd git a bullit through his lug,
Or Mungo there wad catch him."
When close to their heads wi' a terrible clatter
The ghost went wherrin up,
An' ower the woods he lafft an' shoutid,
"Bobo, bobo! who whoop, who whoop!"
The gamkeepers all tummled doon,
Their hair thrast off their hat,
They gaped an' grean'd an' roll'd aboot,
An' their hearts went pit-a-pat.
Thir feaces were white as onny clout,
An' they sed nivver a word,
They cudn't tell what the ghost was like,
Whether 'twas a beast or a bird.
They stay'd nea langer i' th' wood that neet,
Poor men were nivver dafter,
They ran awa hame as fast as they cud,
An' thir dogs ran yelping after.
The parson then, a larned man,
Sed he wad conjur the ghost;
He was sure it was nea wandrin beast,
But a spirit that was lost.
All languages this parson knew
That onny man can chat in,
The Ebrew, Greek, an' Irish too,
As weel as Dutch an' Latin.
O! he cud talk an' read an' preach,
Few men knew mair or better,
An' nearly all the bukes he read,
Wer printed in black letter.
He read a neet, he read a day,
To mak him fit for his wark,
An' when he thowt he was quite up,
He sent for the awd clark.
The clark was quickly by his side,
He took but little fettlin,
An' awa they went wi' right gud will
To gie the ghost a settlin.
Aye off they set wi' all thir might,
Nor stoppt at thin or thick,
The parson wi' his sark an' buke,
The clark wi' a thick stick.
At last by t' side o' th' bank they stoppt
Where Wharfe runs murmrin clear,
A beautiful river breet an' fine,
As onny in wide Yorkshire.
The parson then began to read,
An' read full loud an' lang,
The rabbits they ran in an' oot,
An' wonder'd what was rang.
The ghost was listnin in a hole,
An' oot he bang'd at last,
The fluttrin o' his mighty wings,
Was like a whirlwind blast.
He lafft an' shooted as he flew
Until the wild woods rang;
His who-who-whoop was nivver heard
Sea lood an' clear, an' strang.
The parson he fell backwards ower
Into a bush o' whins,
An' lost his buke, an' rave his sark,
An' prickt his hans an' shins.
The clark he tried to run awa
But tumm'ld ower his stick,
An' there he made a nasty smell
While he did yell an' fick.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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