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Description

" Will o the Wisp "
40 x 50 cm
Acrylic on canvas

" Follow me, follow me,
Over brake and under tree,
Thro' the bosky tanglery,
Brushwood and bramble." - George Meredith

Will o' the Wisp

“ The Will o' the Wisp is the most common name given to the mysterious lights that were said to lead travellers from the well-trodden paths into treacherous marshes,hidden treasures or to fate.”
A will-o'-the-wisp is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached, drawing travellers from the safe paths. The phenomenon is known by a variety of names, including jack-o'-lantern, friar's lantern, hinkypunk…Folk belief attributes the phenomenon to fairies or elemental spirits, explicitly in the term "hobby lanterns" found in the 19th century Denham Tracts.Will-o-the-wisps have been seen in almost every corner of the world and have spawned many explanations and myths. In Europe they were thought to be mischievous spirits of the dead, supernatural beings or faeries. In Scandinavia they are thought to mark the location of treasure which can be taken only when the fire was there. Magical tricks would be employed, that could include a dead mans hand, to uncover the treasure. The dancing lights have appeared as glowing balls that have been hovering and flying around since time immemorial.
The term "will-o'-the-wisp" comes from "wisp", a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch, and the name "Will": thus, "Will-of-the-torch". The term jack-o'-lantern "Jack of [the] lantern" has a similar meaning. The names will-o'-the-wisp and jack-o'-lantern are explained in etiological folk-tales, recorded in many variant forms in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Appalachia, and Newfoundland. In these tales, protagonists named either Will or Jack are doomed to haunt the marshes with a light for some misdeed.
In literature, will-o'-the-wisp sometimes has a metaphorical meaning, describing a hope or goal that leads one on but is impossible to reach, or something one finds sinister and confounding.

Folklore :
There are some tales told about the will-o'-the-wisp being guardians of treasure, much like the Irish leprechaun leading those brave enough to follow them to sure riches. Other stories tell of travelers getting lost in the woodland and coming upon a will-o'-the-wisp, and depending on how they treated the will-o'-the-wisp, the spirit would either get them lost further in the woods or guide them out.
The will-o'-the-wisp was also known as the Spunkie in the Scottish Highlands where it would take the form of a linkboy (a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians in exchange for a fee), or else simply a light that always seemed to recede, in order to lead unwary travelers to their doom. The spunkie has also been blamed for shipwrecks at night after being spotted on land and mistaken for a harbor light. Other tales of Scottish folklore regard these mysterious lights as omens of death or the ghosts of once living human beings. They often appeared over lochs or on roads along which funeral processions were known to travel. A strange light sometimes seen in the Hebrides is referred to as the teine sith, or "fairy light". The will o' the wisp (called in Gaelic Teine biorach = sharp fire), seen, it is said, in 1812, and is the haunting spirit of a young girl from Benbecula, who frequented the machair, or sandy plain beside the sea, in search of the galium verum, used in the dyeing of the local cloth or tweed. Her sin was that of seeking to get an undue share of a product which should have been equally divided for the common good, and which has at all times to be husbanded as one of the plants which bind the sandy soil together where it has been redeemed from the sea.
In Wales, The Ellylldan is a species of elf exactly corresponding to the English will-o'-wisp. Like all goblins of this class, the Ellylldan was, of course, seen dancing about in marshy grounds, into which it led the belated wanderer; but, as a distinguished resident in Wales has wittily said, the poor elf "is now starved to death, and his breath is taken from him; his light is quenched for ever by the improving farmer, who has drained the bog; and, instead of the rank decaying vegetation of the autumn, where bitterns and snipes delighted to secrete themselves, crops of corn and potatoes are grown."

Example of folktale:
These following tales are, notably, associated with the Will-o’-the-wisp, a light seen over boggy and marshy places in Ireland and Britain. In many accounts recorded in the National Folklore Collection, the Will-o’-the-wisp is said to lead people astray, and the tradition may have been associated with real incidents of people going missing on bogs, or bodies found in bogs, as recorded in the following legends from the National Folklore Collection: Jacky the Lantern:
„There was a man long ago, he was going home from Cill Cilan. When he was going home it was dark [and he] saw a light and he thought it was coming from his house. He followed the light, and he was following the light till the morning. It was Jacky the Lantern. He puts people astray. „
( NFC 347: 520. Sráid Bhaile, Déise, Co. Wexford. Summarised from Irish. Collected by Nioclás Breathnach, a full-time collector from Coill Mhic Thomáisín, Dungarvan, Co. Wexford, on June 9, 1937, from Mrs. Uí Chadla, Baile na Bánóg, Co. Wexford.)

„I was over at Connor’s house late one night and when I was coming home I saw the light away from me. I thought it was the light in the house here.‘What the devil is on her to be up at this hour of the night,’ says I in my own mind. It was very late at the time when I was crossing the field, The Rabs the field is called. Well I was wandering around all night and couldn’t find the ditch, and it was half past four in the morning when I got home. After wandering around for a long time I sat down and then I found my way. When I got in home the wife told me that there was no light lighting in the house since nine o’clock that night.“
- NFC 107: 414 -5. Collected by Tómas Ó Ciardha, a part-time collector from Cill-Úird, Co. Cork, May 1935, from Johnny Pinder, Scar, Dúnchormaic, barony of Bargy, Co. Wexford. The information refers to Co. Wexford.

While In European folklore, these lights are believed to be spirits of the dead, fairies, or a variety of other supernatural beings which attempt to lead travelers to their demise, In Finnish mythology there are The Aarnivalkea, spots where an eternal flame associated with will o' the wisps burns. They are claimed to mark the places where faerie gold is buried. They are protected by a glamour that would prevent anyone finding them by pure chance. However, if one finds a fern seed from a mythical flowering fern, the magical properties of that seed will lead the fortunate person to these treasures, in addition to providing one with a glamour of invisibility. Since in reality the fern produces no flower and reproduces via spores under the leaves, the myth specifies that it blooms only extremely rarely. The will-o'-the-wisp can be found in numerous folk tales around the United Kingdom, and is often a malicious character in the stories. In Welsh folklore, it is said that the light is "fairy fire" held in the hand of a púca, or pwca, a small goblin-like fairy that mischievously leads lone travellers off the beaten path at night. As the traveller follows the púca through the marsh or bog, the fire is extinguished, leaving them lost. The púca is said to be one of the Tylwyth Teg, or fairy family. In Wales the light predicts a funeral that will take place soon in the locality. Wirt Sikes in his book British Goblins mentions the following Welsh tale about púca.
“ A peasant travelling home at dusk sees a bright light traveling along ahead of him. Looking closer, he sees that the light is a lantern held by a "dusky little figure", which he follows for several miles. All of a sudden he finds himself standing on the edge of a vast chasm with a roaring torrent of water rushing below him. At that precise moment the lantern-carrier leaps across the gap, lifts the light high over its head, lets out a malicious laugh and blows out the light, leaving the poor peasant a long way from home, standing in pitch darkness at the edge of a precipice. “ This is a fairly common cautionary tale concerning the phenomenon; however, the ignis fatuus was not always considered dangerous.
Also related, the Pixy-light from Devon and Cornwall is most often associated with the Pixie who often has "pixie-led" travellers away from the safe and reliable route and into the bogs with glowing lights. "Like Poltergeist they can generate uncanny sounds. They were less serious than their German Weisse Frauen kin, frequently blowing out candles on unsuspecting courting couples or producing obscene kissing sounds, which were always misinterpreted by parents." In Cornish folklore, Pixy-Light also has associations with the Colt pixie. "A colt pixie is a pixie that has taken the shape of a horse and enjoys playing tricks such as neighing at the other horses to lead them astray". In Guernsey, the light is known as the faeu boulanger (rolling fire), and is believed to be a lost soul. On being confronted with the spectre, tradition prescribes two remedies. The first is to turn one's cap or coat inside out. This has the effect of stopping the faeu boulanger in its tracks. The other solution is to stick a knife into the ground, blade up. The faeu, in an attempt to kill itself, will attack the blade.

Jack-o'-lantern and pumpkin carving ?
In Ireland, Britain and Scotland,the Will-O-The-Wisp is referred to as "Jack-with-a-Lantern". Today many would refer to it as "Jack-O'-Lantern" . The term jack-o'-lantern was originally used to describe the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., "foolish fire") known as a will-o'-the-wisp.
It is believed that the custom of making jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween began in Ireland. In the 19th century, "turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces," were used at Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. In these Celtic-speaking regions, Halloween was also the festival of Samhain and was seen as a time when supernatural beings (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, roamed the earth. The belief that the souls of the dead roamed the earth at Halloween was also found in other parts of Europe. Jack-o'-lanterns were also made at Halloween in Somerset (see Punkie Night) during the 19th century. By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits or supernatural beings, or were used to ward off evil spirits. For example, sometimes they were used by Halloween guisers to frighten people, and sometimes they were set on windowsills to keep harmful spirits out of one's home.

The scientific explanation for these phenomenon is: the oxidation of phosphine and methane, produced by organic decay, causing photon emissions. Other explanations link will-o’-the-wisps to bioluminescence, e.g., honey fungus, even Barn owls.
Yet in 1891 J.G. Owens contested the marsh gas theory:
“This is a name that is sometimes applied to a phenomenon perhaps more frequently called Jack-o’-the-Lantern, or Will-o’-the-Wisp. It seems to be a ball of fire, varying in size from that of a candle-flame to that of a man’s head. It is generally observed in damp, marshy places, moving to and fro; but it has been known to stand perfectly still and send off scintillations. As you approach it, it will move on, keeping just beyond your reach; if you retire, it will follow you. That these fireballs do occur, and that they will repeat your motion, seems to be established, but no satisfactory explanation has yet been offered that I have heard. Those who are less superstitious say that it is the ignition of the gases rising from the marsh. But how a light produced from burning gas could have the form described and move as described, advancing as you advance, receding as you recede, and at other times remaining stationary, without having any visible connection with the earth, is not clear to me.”
The strange thing is that no one has gotten close enough to the phenomenon to actually find out what they are.

Some Regional Names
There are many names for what is essentially the same phenomenon, these are as follows:
Hertfordshire & East Anglia: The Hobby Lantern
Lancashire: Peg-a-Lantern
Cornwall & Somerset: Joan the Wad
East Anglia: The Lantern Man
Somerset & Devon: Hinky Punk
Shropshire: Will the Smith
Worcestershire: Pinket
The West Country: Jacky Lantern, Jack-a-Lantern
Lowland Scotland: Spunkies
Wales: Pwca, Ellylldan
Norfolk: Will o' the Wikes
Warwickshire & Gloucestershire: Hobbedy's Lantern
North Yorkshire & Northumberland: Jenny with the Lantern
Other names
Corpse candles: Related to graveyards and funeral processions.
Ignis Fatuus: The Latin name which means foolish fire.

And in the end, here is full poem, by Gorge Meredith :

" Follow me, follow me,
Over brake and under tree,
Thro' the bosky tanglery,
Brushwood and bramble!
Follow me, follow me,
Laugh and leap and scramble!
Follow, follow,
Hill and hollow,
Fosse and burrow,
Fen and furrow,
Down into the bulrush beds,
'Midst the reeds and osier heads,
In the rushy soaking damps,
Where the vapours pitch their camps,
Follow me, follow me,
For a midnight ramble!
O! what a mighty fog,
What a merry night O ho!
Follow, follow, nigher, nigher -
Over bank, and pond, and briar,
Down into the croaking ditches,
Rotten log,
Spotted frog,
Beetle bright
With crawling light,
What a joy O ho!
Deep into the purple bog -
What a joy O ho!
Where like hosts of puckered witches
All the shivering agues sit
Warming hands and chafing feet,
By the blue marsh-hovering oils:
O the fools for all their moans!
Not a forest mad with fire
Could still their teeth, or warm their bones,
Or loose them from their chilly coils.
What a clatter,
How they chatter!
Shrink and huddle,
All a muddle!
What a joy O ho!
Down we go, down we go,
What a joy O ho!
Soon shall I be down below,
Plunging with a grey fat friar,
Hither, thither, to and fro,
Breathing mists and whisking lamps,
Plashing in the shiny swamps;
While my cousin Lantern Jack,
With cook ears and cunning eyes,
Turns him round upon his back,
Daubs him oozy green and black,
Sits upon his rolling size,
Where he lies, where he lies,
Groaning full of sack -
Staring with his great round eyes!
What a joy O ho!
Sits upon him in the swamps
Breathing mists and whisking lamps!
What a joy O ho!
Such a lad is Lantern Jack,
When he rides the black nightmare
Through the fens, and puts a glare
In the friar's track.
Such a frolic lad, good lack!
To turn a friar on his back,
Trip him, clip him, whip him, nip him.
Lay him sprawling, smack!
Such a lad is Lantern Jack!
Such a tricksy lad, good lack!
What a joy O ho!
Follow me, follow me,
Where he sits, and you shall see! "

Description

" Will o the Wisp "
40 x 50 cm
Acrylic on canvas

" Follow me, follow me,
Over brake and under tree,
Thro' the bosky tanglery,
Brushwood and bramble." - George Meredith

Will o' the Wisp

“ The Will o' the Wisp is the most common name given to the mysterious lights that were said to lead travellers from the well-trodden paths into treacherous marshes,hidden treasures or to fate.”
A will-o'-the-wisp is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached, drawing travellers from the safe paths. The phenomenon is known by a variety of names, including jack-o'-lantern, friar's lantern, hinkypunk…Folk belief attributes the phenomenon to fairies or elemental spirits, explicitly in the term "hobby lanterns" found in the 19th century Denham Tracts.Will-o-the-wisps have been seen in almost every corner of the world and have spawned many explanations and myths. In Europe they were thought to be mischievous spirits of the dead, supernatural beings or faeries. In Scandinavia they are thought to mark the location of treasure which can be taken only when the fire was there. Magical tricks would be employed, that could include a dead mans hand, to uncover the treasure. The dancing lights have appeared as glowing balls that have been hovering and flying around since time immemorial.
The term "will-o'-the-wisp" comes from "wisp", a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch, and the name "Will": thus, "Will-of-the-torch". The term jack-o'-lantern "Jack of [the] lantern" has a similar meaning. The names will-o'-the-wisp and jack-o'-lantern are explained in etiological folk-tales, recorded in many variant forms in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Appalachia, and Newfoundland. In these tales, protagonists named either Will or Jack are doomed to haunt the marshes with a light for some misdeed.
In literature, will-o'-the-wisp sometimes has a metaphorical meaning, describing a hope or goal that leads one on but is impossible to reach, or something one finds sinister and confounding.

Folklore :
There are some tales told about the will-o'-the-wisp being guardians of treasure, much like the Irish leprechaun leading those brave enough to follow them to sure riches. Other stories tell of travelers getting lost in the woodland and coming upon a will-o'-the-wisp, and depending on how they treated the will-o'-the-wisp, the spirit would either get them lost further in the woods or guide them out.
The will-o'-the-wisp was also known as the Spunkie in the Scottish Highlands where it would take the form of a linkboy (a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians in exchange for a fee), or else simply a light that always seemed to recede, in order to lead unwary travelers to their doom. The spunkie has also been blamed for shipwrecks at night after being spotted on land and mistaken for a harbor light. Other tales of Scottish folklore regard these mysterious lights as omens of death or the ghosts of once living human beings. They often appeared over lochs or on roads along which funeral processions were known to travel. A strange light sometimes seen in the Hebrides is referred to as the teine sith, or "fairy light". The will o' the wisp (called in Gaelic Teine biorach = sharp fire), seen, it is said, in 1812, and is the haunting spirit of a young girl from Benbecula, who frequented the machair, or sandy plain beside the sea, in search of the galium verum, used in the dyeing of the local cloth or tweed. Her sin was that of seeking to get an undue share of a product which should have been equally divided for the common good, and which has at all times to be husbanded as one of the plants which bind the sandy soil together where it has been redeemed from the sea.
In Wales, The Ellylldan is a species of elf exactly corresponding to the English will-o'-wisp. Like all goblins of this class, the Ellylldan was, of course, seen dancing about in marshy grounds, into which it led the belated wanderer; but, as a distinguished resident in Wales has wittily said, the poor elf "is now starved to death, and his breath is taken from him; his light is quenched for ever by the improving farmer, who has drained the bog; and, instead of the rank decaying vegetation of the autumn, where bitterns and snipes delighted to secrete themselves, crops of corn and potatoes are grown."

Example of folktale:
These following tales are, notably, associated with the Will-o’-the-wisp, a light seen over boggy and marshy places in Ireland and Britain. In many accounts recorded in the National Folklore Collection, the Will-o’-the-wisp is said to lead people astray, and the tradition may have been associated with real incidents of people going missing on bogs, or bodies found in bogs, as recorded in the following legends from the National Folklore Collection: Jacky the Lantern:
„There was a man long ago, he was going home from Cill Cilan. When he was going home it was dark [and he] saw a light and he thought it was coming from his house. He followed the light, and he was following the light till the morning. It was Jacky the Lantern. He puts people astray. „
( NFC 347: 520. Sráid Bhaile, Déise, Co. Wexford. Summarised from Irish. Collected by Nioclás Breathnach, a full-time collector from Coill Mhic Thomáisín, Dungarvan, Co. Wexford, on June 9, 1937, from Mrs. Uí Chadla, Baile na Bánóg, Co. Wexford.)

„I was over at Connor’s house late one night and when I was coming home I saw the light away from me. I thought it was the light in the house here.‘What the devil is on her to be up at this hour of the night,’ says I in my own mind. It was very late at the time when I was crossing the field, The Rabs the field is called. Well I was wandering around all night and couldn’t find the ditch, and it was half past four in the morning when I got home. After wandering around for a long time I sat down and then I found my way. When I got in home the wife told me that there was no light lighting in the house since nine o’clock that night.“
- NFC 107: 414 -5. Collected by Tómas Ó Ciardha, a part-time collector from Cill-Úird, Co. Cork, May 1935, from Johnny Pinder, Scar, Dúnchormaic, barony of Bargy, Co. Wexford. The information refers to Co. Wexford.

While In European folklore, these lights are believed to be spirits of the dead, fairies, or a variety of other supernatural beings which attempt to lead travelers to their demise, In Finnish mythology there are The Aarnivalkea, spots where an eternal flame associated with will o' the wisps burns. They are claimed to mark the places where faerie gold is buried. They are protected by a glamour that would prevent anyone finding them by pure chance. However, if one finds a fern seed from a mythical flowering fern, the magical properties of that seed will lead the fortunate person to these treasures, in addition to providing one with a glamour of invisibility. Since in reality the fern produces no flower and reproduces via spores under the leaves, the myth specifies that it blooms only extremely rarely. The will-o'-the-wisp can be found in numerous folk tales around the United Kingdom, and is often a malicious character in the stories. In Welsh folklore, it is said that the light is "fairy fire" held in the hand of a púca, or pwca, a small goblin-like fairy that mischievously leads lone travellers off the beaten path at night. As the traveller follows the púca through the marsh or bog, the fire is extinguished, leaving them lost. The púca is said to be one of the Tylwyth Teg, or fairy family. In Wales the light predicts a funeral that will take place soon in the locality. Wirt Sikes in his book British Goblins mentions the following Welsh tale about púca.
“ A peasant travelling home at dusk sees a bright light traveling along ahead of him. Looking closer, he sees that the light is a lantern held by a "dusky little figure", which he follows for several miles. All of a sudden he finds himself standing on the edge of a vast chasm with a roaring torrent of water rushing below him. At that precise moment the lantern-carrier leaps across the gap, lifts the light high over its head, lets out a malicious laugh and blows out the light, leaving the poor peasant a long way from home, standing in pitch darkness at the edge of a precipice. “ This is a fairly common cautionary tale concerning the phenomenon; however, the ignis fatuus was not always considered dangerous.
Also related, the Pixy-light from Devon and Cornwall is most often associated with the Pixie who often has "pixie-led" travellers away from the safe and reliable route and into the bogs with glowing lights. "Like Poltergeist they can generate uncanny sounds. They were less serious than their German Weisse Frauen kin, frequently blowing out candles on unsuspecting courting couples or producing obscene kissing sounds, which were always misinterpreted by parents." In Cornish folklore, Pixy-Light also has associations with the Colt pixie. "A colt pixie is a pixie that has taken the shape of a horse and enjoys playing tricks such as neighing at the other horses to lead them astray". In Guernsey, the light is known as the faeu boulanger (rolling fire), and is believed to be a lost soul. On being confronted with the spectre, tradition prescribes two remedies. The first is to turn one's cap or coat inside out. This has the effect of stopping the faeu boulanger in its tracks. The other solution is to stick a knife into the ground, blade up. The faeu, in an attempt to kill itself, will attack the blade.

Jack-o'-lantern and pumpkin carving ?
In Ireland, Britain and Scotland,the Will-O-The-Wisp is referred to as "Jack-with-a-Lantern". Today many would refer to it as "Jack-O'-Lantern" . The term jack-o'-lantern was originally used to describe the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., "foolish fire") known as a will-o'-the-wisp.
It is believed that the custom of making jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween began in Ireland. In the 19th century, "turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces," were used at Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. In these Celtic-speaking regions, Halloween was also the festival of Samhain and was seen as a time when supernatural beings (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, roamed the earth. The belief that the souls of the dead roamed the earth at Halloween was also found in other parts of Europe. Jack-o'-lanterns were also made at Halloween in Somerset (see Punkie Night) during the 19th century. By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits or supernatural beings, or were used to ward off evil spirits. For example, sometimes they were used by Halloween guisers to frighten people, and sometimes they were set on windowsills to keep harmful spirits out of one's home.

The scientific explanation for these phenomenon is: the oxidation of phosphine and methane, produced by organic decay, causing photon emissions. Other explanations link will-o’-the-wisps to bioluminescence, e.g., honey fungus, even Barn owls.
Yet in 1891 J.G. Owens contested the marsh gas theory:
“This is a name that is sometimes applied to a phenomenon perhaps more frequently called Jack-o’-the-Lantern, or Will-o’-the-Wisp. It seems to be a ball of fire, varying in size from that of a candle-flame to that of a man’s head. It is generally observed in damp, marshy places, moving to and fro; but it has been known to stand perfectly still and send off scintillations. As you approach it, it will move on, keeping just beyond your reach; if you retire, it will follow you. That these fireballs do occur, and that they will repeat your motion, seems to be established, but no satisfactory explanation has yet been offered that I have heard. Those who are less superstitious say that it is the ignition of the gases rising from the marsh. But how a light produced from burning gas could have the form described and move as described, advancing as you advance, receding as you recede, and at other times remaining stationary, without having any visible connection with the earth, is not clear to me.”
The strange thing is that no one has gotten close enough to the phenomenon to actually find out what they are.

Some Regional Names
There are many names for what is essentially the same phenomenon, these are as follows:
Hertfordshire & East Anglia: The Hobby Lantern
Lancashire: Peg-a-Lantern
Cornwall & Somerset: Joan the Wad
East Anglia: The Lantern Man
Somerset & Devon: Hinky Punk
Shropshire: Will the Smith
Worcestershire: Pinket
The West Country: Jacky Lantern, Jack-a-Lantern
Lowland Scotland: Spunkies
Wales: Pwca, Ellylldan
Norfolk: Will o' the Wikes
Warwickshire & Gloucestershire: Hobbedy's Lantern
North Yorkshire & Northumberland: Jenny with the Lantern
Other names
Corpse candles: Related to graveyards and funeral processions.
Ignis Fatuus: The Latin name which means foolish fire.

And in the end, here is full poem, by Gorge Meredith :

" Follow me, follow me,
Over brake and under tree,
Thro' the bosky tanglery,
Brushwood and bramble!
Follow me, follow me,
Laugh and leap and scramble!
Follow, follow,
Hill and hollow,
Fosse and burrow,
Fen and furrow,
Down into the bulrush beds,
'Midst the reeds and osier heads,
In the rushy soaking damps,
Where the vapours pitch their camps,
Follow me, follow me,
For a midnight ramble!
O! what a mighty fog,
What a merry night O ho!
Follow, follow, nigher, nigher -
Over bank, and pond, and briar,
Down into the croaking ditches,
Rotten log,
Spotted frog,
Beetle bright
With crawling light,
What a joy O ho!
Deep into the purple bog -
What a joy O ho!
Where like hosts of puckered witches
All the shivering agues sit
Warming hands and chafing feet,
By the blue marsh-hovering oils:
O the fools for all their moans!
Not a forest mad with fire
Could still their teeth, or warm their bones,
Or loose them from their chilly coils.
What a clatter,
How they chatter!
Shrink and huddle,
All a muddle!
What a joy O ho!
Down we go, down we go,
What a joy O ho!
Soon shall I be down below,
Plunging with a grey fat friar,
Hither, thither, to and fro,
Breathing mists and whisking lamps,
Plashing in the shiny swamps;
While my cousin Lantern Jack,
With cook ears and cunning eyes,
Turns him round upon his back,
Daubs him oozy green and black,
Sits upon his rolling size,
Where he lies, where he lies,
Groaning full of sack -
Staring with his great round eyes!
What a joy O ho!
Sits upon him in the swamps
Breathing mists and whisking lamps!
What a joy O ho!
Such a lad is Lantern Jack,
When he rides the black nightmare
Through the fens, and puts a glare
In the friar's track.
Such a frolic lad, good lack!
To turn a friar on his back,
Trip him, clip him, whip him, nip him.
Lay him sprawling, smack!
Such a lad is Lantern Jack!
Such a tricksy lad, good lack!
What a joy O ho!
Follow me, follow me,
Where he sits, and you shall see! "