Context:

Location: Repton, Derbyshire, England (SK3026)
Year: Perf. 1909
Time of Occurrence: Xmas Eve
Collective Name: Guisers

Source:

Stuart Piggott
Collectanea. Mummers' Plays from Berkshire, Derbyshire, Cumberland, and Isle of Man.
Folk-Lore, 1929, Vol.40, No.3, pp.270-272

Cast:

Text:

[Introducer]

"Open this door I enter in
I'll beg all favours for to win
Whether I rise, sit, stand or fall
I'll do my duty to please you all
Stir up this fire to make a light
To see my merry active knight
I've acted young I've acted old
I've acted on the public stage
A room, a room, I do declare
Step in Boldgier

[Boldgier]

I comes Boldgier, Boldgier is my name
From Turkey land I come
To fight the druded White King
George they call his name.
My head is made of brass
My body is made of steel
My legs and arms are of the best nuckel bone
So I am bound to make him feel.
If you can't believe these words I say
Step in King George and clear the way.

[King George]

In comes King George, a young and champion bold
With his sword and shield worth ten thousand.
I fought the fiery dragon and brought him to the slaughter
And by those very means I won the King of Egypt's daughter
If thy mind be my mind, and my mind be bold
If thy blood be hot this night
I'm bound to turn it cold
Pull put thy pierce and pay
Pull out thy sword and fight away.

[Introducer?]

Oh George, Oh George, what has thou done
Thou has gone and killed my only son
And how can thou see him there
Without calling for a doctor.

[Doctor]

Here I am.

[Introducer?]

What are your travels?

[Doctor]

Oh throughout Italy, Jitaly, Germany, Spain,
Nineteen times to West Indies and back to old England again curing diseases

[Introducer?]

What can you cure?

[Doctor]

The itch, the stitch, the cruet, the grout
The pain within and the pain without
If there are 19 diseases in that man
I fetch 4 and 20 out.

[Introducer?]

Cure him.

[Doctor]

Here Jack take a sup of my nip nap
And let it run down thy tip tap
Rise up and fight.

[Introducer?]

That man's dead yet

[Doctor]

I've a little bottle in my brisses [or top coat] pocket,
which I call Icum Spicome, Spinto of Spain
Which brings dead men to life again
Here Jack take a sup out of my little bottle
And let it run down thy throttle
Arise and fight for ten thousand

[Introducer?]

Lay down those swords and be at rest
For peace and quietness is the best.
If you can't believe these words I say
Step in Misses Beelzebub and clear the way.

[Misses Beelzebub]

In comes Misses Beelzebub
Over her shoulder she carries a club
In her hand a dripping pan
She thinks herself a jolly old gall
With a sing-ting-ting.
And a sup more drink
To make the old tin can cry sound oh
If you think I'm a fool and got no sense
Put your hand in your pocket
And pull out your pence."

Notes:

Piggott's notes:

"Written out by a performer and communicated by Mrs. Furneaux. Mr. H.A.Auden writes,- 'I well remember about 40 years ago . . . that amongst claims of (I think) 'George' he knocked or punched a man so hard that he went over 'ten ditches and ten churches and broke every back-bone in his belly but one.' The doctor also had been to or seen many more wonders in his travels, including a church where the bell ropes were sausages.'"
"'I think there is more of this, but the boy who wrote it out could not remember any. It is copied exactly, - stops, length of lines, etc.' (Note by Mrs. Furncaux.)"

Indexer's notes:

The original script has no character designations. These have been added by the indexer, but could be interpreted differently.

File History:

2002-02-16 - Scanned & coded by Peter Millington
2021-01-15 - TEI-encoded by Peter Millington

Extras:

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