And now a word, in uncouth rhyme 
Of what shall be in future time 
Then upside down the world shall be 
And gold found at the root of tree

All England's sons that plough the land 
Shall oft be seen with Book in hand 
The poor shall now great wisdom know 
Great houses stand in far-flung vale 
All covered o'er with snow and hail 

A carriage without horse will go 
Disaster fill the world with woe. 
In London, Primrose Hill shall be 
In center hold a Bishop's See 
Around the world men's thoughts will fly 

Quick as the twinkling of an eye.
And water shall great wonders do 
How strange. And yet it shall come true 
Through towering hills proud men shall ride 
No horse or ass move by his side.

Beneath the water, men shall walk 
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall even talk.
And in the air men shall be seen 
In white and black and even green 
A great man then, shall come and go 

For prophecy declares it so 
In water, iron, then shall float 
As easy as a wooden boat 
Gold shall be seen in stream and stone 
In land that is yet unknown
And England shall admit a Jew 
You think this strange, but it is true 
The Jew that once was held in scorn 
Shall of a Christian then be born 

A house of glass shall come to pass 
In England. But Alas, alas 
A war will follow with the work 
Where dwells the Pagan and the Turk 
These states will lock in fiercest strife 
And seek to take each others life.

When North shall thus divide the south 
And Eagle build in Lions mouth 
Then tax and blood and cruel war 
Shall come to every humble door.

Three times shall lovely sunny France 
Be led to play a bloody dance 
Before the people shall be free 
Three tyrant rulers shall she see 

Three rulers in succession be 
Each springs from different dynasty. 
Then when the fiercest strife is done 
England and France shall be as one. 
The British olive shall next then twine 
In marriage with a German vine.

Men walk beneath and over streams 
Fulfilled shall be their wondrous dreams 
For in those wondrous far off days 
The women shall adopt a craze 

To dress like men, and trousers wear 
And to cut off their locks of hair 
They'll ride astride with brazen brow 
As witches do on broomstick now 

And roaring monsters with man atop 
Does seem to eat the verdant crop 
And men shall fly as birds do now 
And give away the horse and plough 

There'll be a sign for all to see 
Be sure that it will certain be.
Then love shall die and marriage cease 
And nations wane as babes decrease 

And wives shall fondle cats and dogs 
And men live much the same as hogs 
In nineteen hundred and twenty six 
Build houses light of straw and sticks. 

For then shall mighty wars be planned 
And fire and sword shall sweep the land. 
When pictures seem alive with movements free 
When boats like fishes swim beneath the sea, 

When men like birds shall scour the sky 
Then half the world, deep drenched in blood shall die 
For those who live the century through 
In fear and trembling this shall do. 
Flee to the mountains and the dens 
To bog and forest and wild fens. 

For storms will rage and oceans roar 
When Gabriel stands on sea and shore 
And as he blows his wondrous horn 
Old worlds die and new be born 

A fiery dragon will cross the sky 
Six times before this earth shall die 
Mankind will tremble and frightened be 
for the sixth heralds in this prophecy 
For seven days and seven nights 
Man will watch this awesome sight. 

The tides will rise beyond their ken 
To bite away the shores and then 
The mountains will begin to roar 
And earthquakes split the plain to shore 
And flooding waters, rushing in 
Will flood the lands with such a din 

That mankind cowers in muddy fen 
And snarls about his fellow men 
He bares his teeth and fights and kills 
And secrets food in secret hills 
And ugly in his fear, he lies 
To kill marauders, thieves and spies 

Man flees in terror from the floods 
And kills, and rapes and lies in blood 
And spilling blood by mankind's hands 
Will stain and bitter many lands 
And when the dragon's tail is gone, 

Man forgets, and smiles, and carries on 
To apply himself - too late, too late 
For mankind has earned deserved fate 
His masked smile - his false grandeur, 
Will serve the Gods their anger stir. 

And they will send the Dragon back 
To light the sky - his tail will crack 
Upon the earth and rend the earth 
And man shall flee, King, Lord, and serf 
But slowly they are routed out 
To seek diminishing water spout 
And men will die of thirst before 
The oceans rise to mount the shore 

And lands will crack and rend anew 
You think it strange. It will come true 
And in some far off distant land 
Some men - oh such a tiny band 

Will have to leave their solid mount 
And span the earth, those few to count, 
Who survives this (unreadable) and then 
Begin the human race again 
But not on land already there 

But on ocean beds, stark, dry and bare 
Not every soul on Earth will die 
As the Dragons tail goes sweeping by 
Not every land on earth will sink 
But these will wallow in stench and stink 
Of rotting bodies of beast and man 
Of vegetation crisped on land 

But the land that rises from the sea 
Will be dry and clean and soft and free 
Of mankind's dirt and therefore be 
The source of man's new dynasty 
And those that live will ever fear 
The dragons tail for many year 
But time erases memory 

You think it strange. But it will be 
And before the race is built anew 
A silver serpent comes to view 
And spew out men of like unknown 
To mingle with the earth now grown 

Cold from its heat and these men can 
Enlighten the minds of future man 
To intermingle and show them how 
To live and love and thus endow 

The children with the second sight.
A natural thing so that they might 
Grow graceful, humble and when they do 
The Golden Age will start anew. 

The dragons tail is but a sign 
For mankind's fall and man's decline. 
And before this prophecy is done 
I shall be burned at the stake, at one 

My body singed and my soul set free 
You think I utter blasphemy 
You're wrong. These things have come to me 
This prophecy will come to be 

These verses were on the outer wrapping of the scrolls 


I know I go - I know I'm free 
I know that this will come to be. 
Secreted this - for this will be 

Found by later dynasty 
A dairy maid, a bonny lass 
Shall kick this tone as she does pass 
And five generations she shall breed 
Before one male child does learn to read 

This is then held year by year 
Till an iron monster trembling fear 
eats parchment, words and quill and ink 
And mankind is given time to think 

And only when this comes to be 
Will mankind read this prophecy 
But one mans sweets an others bane 
So I shall not have burned in vain.

Mother Shipton