MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY (A POEM)

Dear folks,

I have in my possession a poem, or rather doggerel, about the Dragon of Wantley, which I found in Folk Tales of the British Isles, Folio Society (1985). It is far too long to reproduce in its entirety here so I reproduce 7 verses. But first of all, a little bit about the dragon him/her/itself:

'The Dragon of Wantley is a 17th century satirical verse parody about a dragon and a brave knight. It was included in Thomas Percy`s 1767 Reliques of Ancient Poetry.

'The poem is a parody of medieval romances and satirizes [sic] a local churchman. In the poem, a dragon appears in Yorkshire and eats children and cattle. The knight More of More Hall battles the dragon and kills it. The Wantley of the poem is Wharncliffe, as the dragon lived in a cave on Wharncliffe Crags, five miles to north of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Sir Francis Wortley, the diocese ecclestiastic, and the parishioners of Wharncliffe had a disagreement on tithing and how much the parish owed (under the law of “First Fruits”), so the poem makes him a dragon. More of More Hall was a lawyer who brought a suit against Wortley and succeeded, giving the parishioners relief. Thus, this parody romance satirizes Wortley. The author of the poem is unknown.' (1)

The poem was transformed into an opera in 1737 attacking Robert Walpole`s taxation policies. Owen Wister wrote a novel, The Dragon of Wantley, in 1892 'It is a romantic story set at Christmastime in the early 13th century. The book was a surprise success, going through four editions over the next ten years.' (2)

THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY


Old stories tell, how Hercules
A dragon slew at Lerna,
With seven heads, and fourteen eyes,
To see and well discern-a:
But he had a club, this dragon to drub,
Or he had ne`er done it, I warrant ye;
But More of More Hall, with nothing at all,
He slew the dragon of Wantley.

This dragon had two furious wings,
Each one upon each shoulder;
With a sting in his tail, as long as a flail,
Which made him bolder and bolder.
He had long claws, and in his jaws
Four and forty teeth of iron;
With a hide as tough as any buff,
Which did him round environ.

Some say, this dragon was a witch;
Some say, he was a devil,
For from his nose a smoke arose,
And with it burning snivel,
Which he cast off, when he did cough,
In a well that he did stand by;
Which made it look just like a brook
Running with burning brandy.

Hard by a furious knight there dwelt,
Of whom all towns did ring,
For he could wrestle, play at quarter-staff, kick, cuff and huff,
Call son of a whore, do anything more;
By the tail and the mane, with his hands twain,
He swung a horse till he was dead;
And that which is stranger, he for very anger
Ate him all up but his head.

To see this fight, all people then
Got up on trees and houses,
On churches some, and chimneys too,
But these put on their trousers,
Not to spoil their hose. As soon as he rose,
To make him strong and mighty,
He drank by the tale six pots of ale,
And a quart of aqua-vitae.

At length the hard earth began to quake,
The dragon gave him a knock,
Which made him to reel, and straightaway he thought
To lift him as high as a rock,
And thence let him fall. But More of More Hall
Like a valiant son of Mars,
As he came like a lout, so he turned him about,
And hit him a kick on the arse.

`Murder, murder!` the dragon cried,
`Alack, alack for grief!`
Had you but missed that place, you could
Have done me no mischief.`
Then his head he shaked, trembled and quaked,
And down he laid and cried;
First on one knee, then on back tumbled he,
So groaned, kicked, shat, and died. (3)


1. Wikipedia. Dragon of Wantley. http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_of_Wantley [accessed Dec7th 2009]
2. Ibid
3. Author unknown.The Dragon of Wantley. Folk Tales of The British Isles. Folio Society 91985) pp139-144

Rich. Sorry no song lyrics today due to disorganized brain cells.