Upon his head an' taïl wer pinks, A-païnted all in tangled links; His two long zides wer blue,--his bed Bent slightly upward at the head; His reäves rose upward in a bow Above the slow hind-wheels below. Vour hosses wer a-kept to pull The girt wold waggon when 'twer vull; The black meäre _Smiler_, strong enough To pull a house down by herzuf,
So big, as took my widest strides To straddle halfway down her zides; An' champèn _Vi'let_, sprack an' light, That foam'd an' pull'd wi' all her might: An' _Whitevoot_, leäzy in the treäce, Wi' cunnèn looks an' show-white feäce; Bezides a baÿ woone, short-taïl _Jack_, That wer a treäce-hoss or a hack.
How many lwoads o' vuzz, to scald The milk, thik waggon have a-haul'd! An' wood vrom copse, an' poles vor raïls. An' bayèns wi' their bushy taïls; An' loose-ear'd barley, hangèn down Outzide the wheels a'móst to groun', An' lwoads o' haÿ so sweet an' dry, A-builded straïght, an' long, an' high; An' haÿ-meäkers, a-zittèn roun' The reäves, a-ridèn hwome vrom groun', When Jim gi'ed Jenny's lips a-smack, An' jealous Dicky whipp'd his back, An' maïdens scream'd to veel the thumps A-gi'ed by trenches an' by humps. But he, an' all his hosses too, 'V a-ben a-done vor years agoo.
In the common by our hwome There wer freely-open room, Vor our litty veet to roam By the vuzzen out in bloom. That wi' prickles kept our lags Vrom the skylark's nest ov aggs; While the peewit wheel'd around Wi' his cry up over head, Or he sped, though a-limpèn, o'er the ground.
There we heärd the whickr'èn meäre Wi' her vaïce a-quiv'rèn high; Where the cow did loudly bleäre By the donkey's vallèn cry. While a-stoopèn man did zwing His bright hook at vuzz or ling Free o' fear, wi' wellglov'd hands, O' the prickly vuzz he vell'd, Then sweet-smell'd as it died in faggot bands.
When the haÿward drove the stock In a herd to zome oone pleäce, Thither vo'k begun to vlock, Each to own his beästes feäce. While the geese, bezide the stream, Zent vrom gapèn bills a scream, An' the cattle then avound, Without right o' greäzen there, Went to bleäre braÿ or whicker in the pound.
[Footnote B: The Driving of the Common was by the _Hayward_ who, whenever he thought fit, would drive all the cattle into a corner and impound all heads belonging to owners without a right of commonage for them, so that they had to ransom them by a fine.]