Poem by John Skelton

Jolly Rutterkin

HOYDA, jolly rutterkin, hoyda!
Like a rutterkin hoyda.

Rutterkin is come unto our town
In a cloak without coat or gown,
Save a ragged hood to cover his crown,
Like a rutter hoyda.

Rutterkin can speak no English,
His tongue runneth all on buttered fish,
Besmeared with grease about his dish,
Like a rutter hoyda.

Rutterkin shall bring you all good luck,
A stoup of beer up at a pluck,
Till his brain be as wise as a duck,
Like a rutter hoyda.

When rutterkin from board will rise,
He will piss a gallon pot full a-twice,
And the overplus under the table of the new guise,
Like a rutter hoyda.

1. Duke of Albany
2. A Lawde and Prayse
3. The Prelates
4. Woefully Arrayed
5. To the Second Person

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