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In Percie's "Reliques of
Ancient Poetry" is a long black letter ballad upon the exploits of Guy. It
seems unnecessary to quote it in extenso, so we pick out a verse here and
there, sufficient at least to show how doughty a champion our hero must
have been :
" I slew the gyant Amarant
In battle fiercelye hand to hand: And doughty Barknard killed I,
A treacherous knight of Pavye land.
Then I to England came againe,
And here with Colbronde fell I fought : An ugly gyant whom the Danes
Had for their champion hither brought.
I overcame him in the field,
And slewe him soone right valliantlye ; Wherebye this land I did redeeme
From Danish tribute utterlye.
And afterwards I offered upp The use of weapons solemnlye At Winchester, whereas I fought,
In sight of manye farr and nye.
But first, near Winsor, I did slaye
A bore of passing might and strength ; Whose like in England never was
For hugenesse both of bredth and length,
Some of his bones in Warwicke yet,
Within the castle there do lye,
One of his shield-bones to this day
Hangs in the citye of Coventrye.
On Dunsmore heath I alsoe slewe
A monstrous wyld and cruell beast, Called the Dun-Cow of Dunsmore heath,
Which manye people had opprest.
Some of her bones in Warwicke yett
Still for a monument doe lye ; Which unto every lookers viewe
As wondrous strange, they may espye.
A dragon in Northumberland, I alsoe did in fight destroye,
Which did both man and beast oppresse,
And all the countrye sore annoye.
My body that endured this toyle,
Though now it be consumed to mold ; My statue faire
engraven in stone, In Warwicke still you may behold."
The origin of the story of the mythical dun cow is lost in obscurity, but in the north-west of Shropshire will be found an eminence known locally as the Staple Hill, and on this a ring of stones of the rude Druidic type seen in various parts of England, and most notably at Avebury, in Wiltshire. This circle is some ninety feet or so in diameter, and legend has it that this enclosure was used by a giant as a cow-pen. This cow was no ordinary creature, but yielded her milk miraculously, filling any vessel that was brought to her. She seems to have deeply resented the act of an old crone in bringing her a sieve thus to fill, construed it into a direct insult to her powers (though one scarcely sees on what ground), broke loose from her enclosure, and wandered into Warwickshire, doing enormous mischief, until her career was cut short by the re0oubtable Guy. Bones of the dun cow may be seen i many places, a circumstance that is explained by telling us that on the victory of the knight over the cow he sent its bones far and wide over the district it had ravagd, as tokens of victory and a manifest proof that the monster was no longer to be dreaded.
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