How Henry Blake Knows

Don’t you dast kill a toad, Henry Blake says, for true As your’re born it’ll rain right away if you do. For Henry Blake says oncet some boys ’at he knowed Were goin’ a-fishin’ an’ one killed a toad, An’ it all clouded up an’ it got just as black, An’ it thundered an’ lightninged before they got back Till they were awful scairt. He says he dunno why, But he thinks toads has somethin’ t’ do with the sky. An’ Henry Blake showed Us th’ place in th’ road Where the boys went an’ kilt him an’ that’s how he knowed.

Henry Blake says if you just split a bean An’ put half of it on a wart when it’s green, An’ throw half of it between midnight an’ dawn In a cistern somewhere, why, your wart’ll be gone Just as soon as it rots. Henry Blake says it’s true ’Cuz a friend of his showed him a bean cut in two That took off a big wart, an’ th’ half was all black An’ Henry Blake says that it never came back. An’ Henry’s friend showed Him th’ cistern he throwed The other half into an’ that’s how he knowed!