Brother Avenged, and Other Ballads — The Treasure Digger

O, would that with last and shoe I had stay’d, Without wild desires;

And, ah!

no trust in Satan had laid, That prince of liars!

Each Saturday night, when slept the rest, Away I stroll’d To the forest, so murky and drear, in quest Of buried gold.

And then I beheld the hopping fire glow The briar behind;

And down to the earth my wishing-rod low Itself declin’d. I dug then, and gripped the chest’s ring amain, And held it stout;

But the copper deceitful burst in twain, And the fiends laughed out.

Just, just as long was the treasure my own, As I trembled with fright;

But soon as I held it secure, down, down It sank from sight.

Ye devilish pack, what grin ye at?

I fell not your prey;

I’ll trust no more in old women’s chat, And in cross-shaped way.

I go by my last and shoe to stay, Without wild desires;

And ne’er more in Satan I trust will lay, That prince of liars!