Reliques of ancient English poetry: consisting of old heroic ballads ...

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228 ANCIENT S O N GfcS
- The
The grief whereof did grow fo great
Throughout the limits of the land, z*
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That they their wife-men did intreat
To (hew their cunning out of hand
What way they might this fiend deftroy,
That did the countrey thus annoy.
The wife-men all before the king
; :
This anfwer fram'd incontinent
The dragon none to death might bring
By any means they could invent
His fkin more hard than brafs was found,
That fword nor fpear could pierce nor wound. 30
When this the people underftood,
They cryed out moil piteouflye,
The dragon's breath infecls their blood,
That every day in heaps they dye :
Among them fuch a plague it bred, 35
living fcarce could bury the dead.
No means there were, as they could hear,
For to appeafe the dragon's rage,
But to prefent fome virgin clear,
Whofe blood his fury might aflwage
Each day he would a maiden eat,
For to allay his hunger great.
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