The Well of St. Keyne
Robert Southey
1774 to 1843
Drag the words to the correct places to complete the poem. To reset the game, click on the "Reset Game" button located below the poem. This will clear all the words you've placed in the blanks, returning them to the word bank and resetting the poem to its original state with empty blanks.
A Well there is in the west country,
______ a clearer one never was seen;
There is not ______ wife in the west country
But has heard ______ the Well of St. Keyne.
An oak and an elm-tree stand beside,
And behind doth an ash-tree grow,
______ a willow from the bank above
Droops to ______ water below.
A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne;
Joyfully he drew nigh,
For from the cock-crow he had been travelling,
And there was not ______ cloud in the sky.
He drank of the water ______ cool and clear,
For thirsty and hot was he,
And he sat down upon the bank
Under ______ willow-tree.
There came a man from the house hard ______
At the Well to fill his pail;
On ______ Well-side he rested it,
And he bade the ______ hail.
"Now art thou a bachelor, Stranger?" quoth he,
"For an if thou hast a wife,
The ______ draught thou hast drank this day
That ever ______ didst in thy life.
"Or has thy good woman, ______ one thou hast,
Ever here in Cornwall been?
______ an if she have, I'll venture my life
______ has drank of the Well of St. Keyne."
"I have left a good woman who never was here."
The Stranger he made reply,
"But that my ______ should be the better for that,
I pray ______ answer me why?"
"St. Keyne," quoth the Cornish-man, "many a time
Drank of this crystal Well,
______ before the Angel summon'd her,
She laid on ______ water a spell.
"If the Husband of this gifted ______
Shall drink before his Wife,
A happy man ______ is he,
For he shall be Master for life.
"But if the Wife should drink of it first,—
God help the Husband then!"
The Stranger ______ to the Well of St. Keyne,
And drank ______ the water again.
"You drank of the Well I ______ betimes?"
He to the Cornish-man said:
But ______ Cornish-man smiled as the Stranger spake,
And sheepishly ______ his head.
"I hasten'd as soon as the wedding ______ done,
And left my Wife in the porch;
______ i' faith she had been wiser than me,
______ she took a bottle to Church."