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Dinogad's Coat

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 Dinogad's Coat Specked, specked, Dinogad's coat,  I fashioned it of pelts of stoat. Twit, twit, a twittering, I sang, and so eight slaves would sing.  When your daddy went off to hunt,  Spear on his shoulder,  club in his hand,  He'd call the hounds, so swift of foot:  "Giff, Gaff-seek 'im, seek 'im, fetch, fetch.  He'd strike fish from a coracle As a lion strikes a small animal.  When to the mountain your daddy would go,  He'd bring back a stag, a boar, a roe,  A speckled mountain grouse, A fish from Derwennydd Falls,  Of those daddy reached with his lance,  Whether a boar or a fox or a lynx,  None could escape unless it had wings. This Briton cradle song, composed around the year 650, may be the earliest recorded poem by a woman. Here, set to music -