The Ash

: NATURE SONGS
: Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales

Burn ash-wood green,

'Tis a fire for a queen:

Burn ash-wood sear,

'Twill make a man swear.



Ash, when green, makes good fire-wood, and, contrary perhaps to all

other sorts of wood, is bad for that purpose when sear, or dry,

withered. The old Anglo-Saxon term sear is well illustrated by this

homely proverb. The reader will remember Macbeth:



I have lived long enough:

My way of life is fallen into the sear and yellow leaf.



More

;