Page:Maid Marian - Peacock (1822).djvu/115

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Maid Marian.
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and ward is my word: if you can is yours. The mark is set, and so start fair."

The baron would have gone on in this way for an hour: but the friar made his appearance with a long oak-staff in his hand, singing,

Drink, and sing, and eat, and laugh,And so̟ go forth to battle:For the top of a skull and the end of a staffDo make a ghostly rattle.

"Ho! ho! friar!" said the baron, "singing friar, laughing friar, roaring friar, fighting friar, hacking friar, thwacking friar, cracking, cracking, cracking friar, joke-cracking, bottle-cracking, skull-cracking friar."

"And ho! ho!" said the friar, "bold baron, old baron, sturdy baron, wordy baron, long baron, strong baron, mighty baron, flighty baron, mazed baron, crazed baron, hacked baron, thwacked baron, cracked, cracked,

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