Uffington White Horse

THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE.

"The owld White Horse wants zettin' to rights;

And the squire hev promised good cheer,

Zo we'll gee un a scrape to kip 'un in shape,

And a'll last for many a year.

A was made a long, long time ago,

Wi' a dale o' labour and pains,

By King Alfred the Great when he spwiled their consate,

And caddled thay wosberds the Danes.

The Bleawin Stwun, in days gone by,

Wur King Arthur's bugle harn,

And the tharnin tree you med plainly zee,

As is called King Alfred's tharn.

There'll be backsword play and climmin the powl,

And a race for a pig and a cheese;

And us thinks as hisn's a dummel sowl

As dwoan't care for zich spwoarts as these."

from Thomas Hughes's 1859 book 'The Scouring of the White Horse'.