And neither of them could till -- A TREE SONG Of all the trees that grow so fair , Old England to adorn , Greater are none beneath the Sun , Than Oak , and Ash , and Thorn . Sing Oak , and Ash , and Thorn , good Sirs -LRB- All of a Midsummer morn -RRB- ! Surely we sing no little thing , In Oak , and Ash , and Thorn ! Oak of the Clay lived many a day , Or ever Æneas began ; Ash of the Loam was a lady at home , When Brut was an outlaw man ; Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town -LRB- From which was London born -RRB- ; Witness hereby the ancientry Of Oak , and Ash , and Thorn ! Yew that is old in churchyard mould , He breedeth a mighty bow ; Alder for shoes do wise men choose , And beech for cups also . But when ye have killed , and your bowl is spilled , And your shoes are clean outworn , Back ye must speed for all that ye need , To Oak and Ash and Thorn ! Ellum she hateth mankind , and waiteth Till every gust be laid , To drop a limb on the head of him That anyway trusts her shade : But whether a lad be sober or sad , Or mellow with ale from the horn , He will take no wrong when he lieth along ` Neath Oak , and Ash , and Thorn ! Oh , do not tell the Priest our plight , Or he would call it a sin ; But -- we have been out in the woods all night , A-conjuring Summer in ! And we bring you news by word of mouth -- Good news for cattle and corn -- Now is the Sun come up from the South , With Oak , and Ash , and Thorn ! Sing Oak , and Ash , and Thorn , good Sirs -LRB- All of a Midsummer morn -RRB- ! England shall bide till Judgement Tide , By Oak and Ash and Thorn ! YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR They were fishing , a few days later , in the bed of the brook that for centuries had cut deep into the soft valley soil . The trees closing overhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs and patches . Down in the tunnels were bars of sand and gravel , old roots and trunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water ; foxgloves growing lean and pale towards the light ; clumps of fern and thirsty shy flowers who could not live away from moisture and shade . In the pools you could see the wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon , and the pools were joined to each other -- except in flood time , when all was one brown rush -- by sheets of thin broken water that poured themselves chuckling round the darkness of the next bend . This was one of the children 's most secret hunting-grounds , and their particular friend , old Hobden the hedger , had shown them how to use it . Except for the click of a rod hitting a low willow , or a switch and tussle among the young ash-leaves as a line hung up for the minute , nobody in the hot pasture could have guessed what game was going on among the trouts below the banks . ` We 've got half-a-dozen , ' said Dan , after a warm , wet hour . ' I vote we go up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool . ' Una nodded -- most of her talk was by nods -- and they crept from the gloom of the tunnels towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the mill-stream .
Here the banks are low and bare , and the glare of the afternoon sun on the Long XXXXX below the weir makes your eyes ache .
Clay Pool Sun Town ancientry centuries foxgloves hunting-grounds trouts waiteth