“Walk in, St. George.’
“Oh! in come I St. George, the man of courage bold.
“With my sword and buckler I have won three crowns of gold;
“I fought the fiery Dragon, and brought him to the slaughter,
“I saved a beauteous Queen and a King of England’s daughter.
“If thy mind is high, my mind is bold;
“If thy blood is hot, I will make it cold.’”
“What did he want to do that for?” said Carl.
“O in the days when St. George lived,” replied the stocking, “the more men a man had killed the more people thought of him; and this man was trying to make himself like St. George. He had a great pasteboard helmet on his head, with a long peacock’s feather streaming from the top of it, and a wooden sword, and a tin-covered shield on which were nailed clusters of holly berries in the figure of a cross. His shoes were of wood too, and his jacket and small-clothes of buckskin, with sprigs of yew fastened down all the seams, and great knots of red and green ribbons at the knees. As soon as he had sung his song he began the fight with Mince Pye, and a dreadful fight it was, if one might judge by the noise; also Mince Pye’s sword became quite red with the holly berries. But St. George let his shield take all the blows, and when Mince Pye had spent her strength upon it, he thrust at her with his sword and down she came.”
“Who? Mince Pye?” said Carl. “Oh that’s too bad!”