Hail the hedge as it grows
Ask the hedge all it knows
Tell me who has licked the twoad?
What is hidden ’neath the road?
Tell me quick as I was born
Whivering like a downy horn.
Hail the hedge as it grows
Ask the hedge all it knows
Who’s inneath The Ooser-Rod?
Horny devil? Goaty God?
What is God in ethly guise?
One or mampus giant eyes?
Hail the hedge as it grows
Ask the hedge all it knows
Will the sweven’s golden keys
Hanging in the aishy trees
Open gawly geates to death
Who hoards ’es answers in the eth?
twoad – toad; whiver – to hover, to quiver; inneath – behind, inside; Ooser-Rod – a devil’s penis, abnormally large; ‘The Dorset Ooser’ (/ˈoʊsər/) – also oose or wu’se. A mask with grim jaws, put on with a cow’s skin to frighten folk. An arch-fiend. A devil; eth – earth; mampus – a great number; sweven – a dream; aishy – the ash; gawly – an opening, an empty place, a bare patch, empty, hollow; geate – gate; ‘es – his