Page:Barnes (1879) Poems of rural life in the Dorset dialect (combined).djvu/345

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NANNY GILL.
329

NANNY GILL.

Ah! they wer times, when Nanny Gill
Went so’jerèn ageänst her will,
Back when the King come down to view
His ho’se an’ voot, in red an’ blue,
 An’ they did march in rows,
 An’ wheel in lines an’ bows,
 Below the King’s own nose;
An’ guns did pwoint, an’ swords did gleäre,
A-fightèn foes that werden there.

Poor Nanny Gill did goo to zell
In town her glitt’rèn macarel,
A-pack’d wi’ ceäre, in even lots,
A-ho’seback in a peäir o’ pots.
 An’ zoo when she did ride
 Between her panniers wide,
 Red-cloked in all her pride,
Why, who but she, an’ who but broke
The road avore her scarlet cloke!

But Nanny’s ho’se that she did ride,
Woonce carr’d a sword ageän his zide,
An’ had, to prick en into rank,
A so’jer’s spurs ageän his flank;
 An’ zoo, when he got zight
 O’ swords a-gleamèn bright,
 An’ men agwaïn to fight,
He set his eyes athirt the ground,
An’ prick’d his ears to catch the sound.

Then Nanny gi’ed his zide a kick,

An’ het en wi’ her limber stick;