King George. O thou hasher, thou slasher, what makes thee talk so hot?
When there's a man all in this room thou little thinks thou'st got,
Who will hash thee and slash thee as I told you once before.
I always gained the championship wherever I did go!
Soldier. What's the use of talking about hashing me and slashing me?
When my arms are made of iron and my body's made of steel
And legs of beaten brass, no man can make me feel!
King George. Here stands King George, one of the noble dukes of the valley!
Being seven long years in a close cave,
Have been kept out of into [sic] a rock of stone.
Where I made my sad and grievous moan.
It's many a joint where I so do,
Where I'd ram this fiery dagger through.[1]
It's I who slew Slabberer from the stake.
What more can mortal man undertake?[2]
England's right,
And Ireland is bright,
And here I draw my weapon!
Show me the man that dares me stand,
I'll cut him down at my command!
Soldier and King George (singing). For to-morrow we will fight
With our swords in our hands shining bright, bright, bright.
(Clashing of swords as before, Soldier is wounded.)
Soldier. Help, help, help! I am in the search [? clutch] of an
- ↑
"Many a giant I did subdue,
And ran a fiery dragon through,"
runs the Mummers' Play given in the Rev. W. D. Parish's Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect. This whole speech should be compared with this version, and with the early life of St. George in the ballad of the Seven Champions.
- ↑
"I freed fair Sabra from the stake,
What more could mortal man undertake?"
North of Ireland version in Notes and Queries, 4th S. x. 487.
