John Barleycorn                             2124

There was three men came out of the west

    Their fortune for to try

And these three men made a solemn vow

   John Barleycorn should die.

They ploughed they sowed they harrowed him in

Throwed clots up on hs head

And these three men made a solemn vow

  John Barleycorn was dead.

Then they let him die for a very long time

Till the rain from heaven did fall

And litttle Sir John sprung up his head

And soon amazed them all

They let him stand till midsummer

Till he seemed both pale & wan

And little Sir John growed with a long beard

 And so he became a man. 

2125

An they hired men with the scythes so sharp

    To cut him off at knee

And the malter served him worse than that

  He served him most barbarously

They hired men with the sharp pitch forks 

  Who pricked him to the heart

And the loader he served him worse than that

For he bound him to the cart.

They wheeled him round & round the field

Till they came unto a barn

And then they made a solemn xxxx  mow

    Of poor John Barleycorn.

They hired men with the crabtree sticks

  To cut him skin from bone

  And the miller he served him worse than that

For he ground him between two stones

                                                                            2126

Here's little Sir John in a nut brown bowl

And brandy in a glass

And little Sir John in a nut brown bowl

Proved the strongest man at last

And the huntsman he can't hunt the fox

Nor so loudly blow his horn

And the tinker he can't mend kettles or pots

Without a little of Barleycorn.

                   Shepherd Hayden (83) at Bampton in the Bush

                      Aug. 31st  /09

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