William the First was the first of our kings

Not counting Ethelreds, Egberts and things,

And he had himself crowned and anointed and blest

In Ten-Sixty-I-Needn't-Tell-You-The Rest.

But being a Norman, King William the First

By the Saxons he conquered was hated and cursed,

And they planned and they plotted far into the night,

Which William could tell by the candles alight.

Then William decided these rebels to quell

By ringing the Curfew, a sort of a bell,

And if any Saxon was found out of bed

After eight o'clock sharp, it was Off with His Head.

So at BONG NUMBER ONE they all started to run

Like a warren of rabbits upset by a gun;

At BONG NUMBER TWO they were all in a stew,

Flinging cap after tunic and hose after shoe;

At BONG NUMBER THREE they were bare to the knee,

Undoing the doings as quick as could be;

At BONG NUMBER FOUR they were stripped to the core,

And pulling on nightshirts the wrong side before;

At BONG NUMBER FIVE they were looking alive,

And bizzing and buzzing like bees in a hive;

At BONG NUMBER SIX they gave themselves kicks,

Tripping over the rushes to snuff out the wicks;

At BONG NUMBER SEVEN, from Durham to Devon,

They slipped up a prayer to Our Father in Heaven;

And at BONG NUMBER EIGHT it was fatal to wait,

So with hearts beating all at a terrible rate,

In a deuce of state, I need hardly relate,

They jumped BONG into bed like a bull at a gate.