This dragon he had a plaguy hide, Which could both sword and spear abide; 10 He could not enter with hacks and cuts, Which vext the knight to the very hearts blood and guts.
All the trees in the wood did shake, Stars did tremble, and men did quake; But had ye seen how the birds lay peeping, 15 'Twould have made a mans heart to fall a-weeping.
But it was too late to fear, For now it was come to fight dog, fight bear; And as a yawning he did fall, He thrust his sword in, hilt and all. 20
But now as the knight in choler did burn, He owed the dragon a shrewd good turn: In at his mouth his sword he bent, The hilt appeared at his fundament.
Then the dragon, like a coward, began to fly 25 Unto his den, that was hard by; And there he laid him down and roar'd; The knight was vexed for his sword.
"The sword, that was a right good blade, As ever Turk or Spaniard made, 30 I for my part do forsake it, And he that will fetch it, let him take it."
When all this was done, to the ale-house he went, And by and by his two pence he spent; For he was so hot with tugging with the dragon, 35 That nothing would quench him but a whole flaggon.
Now God preserve our King and Queen, And eke in London may be seen As many knights, and as many more, And all so good as Sir Eglamore. 40
We have thought it necessary to include in this collection one or two specimens of ballads founded on stories in the Jewish Scriptures. Besides those here selected, it may be well to refer to the following: _The Constancy of Susanna_, (cited in _Twelfth Night_,) Evans, i. 11; _David and Bathsheba_, _id._ p. 291; _Tobias_, _Old Ballads_, ii. 158; _Holofernes_, _The Garland of Goodwill_, p. 85, and _Old Ballads_, ii. 166.
Every one will remember that the ballad of _Jephthah_ is quoted in _Hamlet_ (Act II. sc. 2). Percy published an imperfect copy of this piece, written down from the recollection of a lady (_Reliques_, i. 193). The following is from a black-letter copy reprinted in Evans, i. 7, which was entitled "_Jepha, Judge of Israel_."
I have read that many years agoe, When Jeph[th]a, judge of Israel, Had one fair daughter and no moe,[L3] Whom he loved passing well. And as by lot, God wot, 5 It came to passe, most like it was, Great warrs there should be, And who should be the chiefe but he, but he.