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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77672 ***
+
+
+
+
+                                The Giant
+
+                                   AND
+
+                          Other Nonsense Verse
+
+                                   BY
+
+                             ALBERT W. SMITH
+
+
+                             ANDRUS & CHURCH
+                              ITHACA, N. Y.
+                                  1910
+
+
+
+
+ “The Giant,” the “Arctic Ball,” and “Funnyland,” in slightly different
+form, appeared originally in “The Ladies’ Home Journal,” and thanks are
+due to the editor for his kind permission to include them in this book.
+
+
+                             Copyright, 1910
+                           by Albert W. Smith.
+
+                             Copyright, 1911
+                           by Albert W. Smith.
+
+
+
+
+                                   _To
+                                  Ruby
+                                 Alpheus
+                                 Dorothy
+                                   and
+                                 Ruth._
+
+
+
+
+                               THE GIANT
+
+
+    There is a Giant in the world
+      Whose head is up so high,
+    He has to get down on his knees
+      To look up in the sky.
+
+    And when he feels the need of food,
+      He wades out in the sea
+    And fishes out a whale or two
+      Just right to fricassee.
+
+    Or if he’s near to Hindustan
+      He gathers up a few
+    Young elephants with jungle brush
+      For oriental stew.
+
+    And when he tires of earthly food
+      His diet, as a rule,
+    Consists of planets roasted well
+      And hung outside to cool.
+
+    He sends his wife to gather them;
+      She brings them on a tray;
+    For cream to make the planet sauce
+      She skims the Milky Way.
+
+    When Mrs. Giant cooks, the steam
+      Floats off across the sky
+    In clouds that drop the rain that keeps
+      The world from getting dry.
+
+    And sometimes when the clouds are dark,
+      The Giant gets his gun
+    And shoots it in their very midst--
+      Because he likes the fun.
+
+    But when the sky is clear all day,
+      Without a cloud in sight,
+    The Giant finds his supper cold
+      When he gets home at night.
+
+    Whenever Mrs. Giant goes
+      To tidy up the room,
+    She picks a comet ’cause its tail
+      Is handy for a broom.
+
+    The Giant drinks, to quench his thirst,
+      A whirling water-spout;
+    He gave up drinking mountain lakes
+      Lest he should have the gout.
+
+    He puts a forest in his pipe
+      When he’s inclined to smoke,
+    And lights his match upon the moon;
+      The moon can’t see the joke!
+
+    I think, my child, were you a moon,
+      ’Way off in stellar space,
+    You’d feel put out if anyone
+      Scratched matches on your face!
+
+    The Giant dresses up sometimes
+      And goes to take a stroll;
+    And picks a little bunch of stars
+      To deck his buttonhole.
+
+    He’s mighty careful which he takes;
+      He knows the ones to shun;
+    He burned his fingers badly once
+      By fooling with the Sun.
+
+    And once in absent minded mood
+      He picked a nettle star;--
+    He ran a-yelling all the way
+      From Rome to Zanzibar!
+
+    The islands are his stepping-stones,
+      The continents his bed;
+    He slept on Greenland once and caught
+      A snuffle in his head.
+
+    He slides around the Arctic Pole;
+      And if he gets a chill
+    He goes and sits a month or two
+      In India or Brazil.
+
+    He caught his trousers on Cape Horn
+      And tore an awful slit;
+    He stayed in bed a season while
+      His wife embroidered it;
+    She fixed it with a patch of sky;
+      It didn’t show a bit!
+
+    When walking through a mountain land,
+      He sometimes stubs his toe;
+    The shock is called an earthquake by
+      The frightened folks below.
+
+    Our weather only comes about
+      Up to the Giant’s knees;
+    The rest of him sticks up above
+      As pleasant as you please.
+
+    So, when he wants to dust his shoes,
+      He only has to stand
+    A minute in the middle of
+      Some handy, windy land.
+
+    He saw the men who went to dig
+      The Panama Canal.
+    He slapped his knees and laughed until
+      He grew hysterical.
+
+    He could have finished that Canal
+      With half a dozen kicks;
+    But he had promised not to get
+      Mixed up in politics!
+
+    One night a great astronomer,
+      While gazing into space,
+    By chance looked through his telescope
+      Right in the Giant’s face.
+
+    He thought it was the moon until
+      The Giant winked his eye;--
+    The wise man never dared again
+      To search the starry sky.
+
+    We never see the Giant, for
+      On seeing us he flies,
+    Because he feels so ill at ease
+      And conscious of his size.
+
+
+
+
+                            THE ARCTIC BALL
+
+
+    They gave a ball in the Arctic Zone,
+    And they danced on the frozen sea.
+    The North-wind blew on a big trombone,
+    And he played tunes that would melt a stone,
+    But none in a minor key;
+    For that would melt ice and lower the tone.
+    Imagine a ball in the Arctic Zone
+    On a melting, mushy sea!
+
+    An Arctic ball is a long, long thing,
+    For it’s dark for six months there.
+    They dance from Fall till early Spring,
+    The two-step, waltz and the Highland-fling,
+    Utterly free from care.
+    They eat ice-cream that they have to blow
+    To cool it off for it burns them so;
+    And they all drink liquified air.
+
+    The whalloping whales came floundering through
+    A hole in the icy floor;
+    And the Seals all came and the Caribou,
+    The old Musk-ox, and the Reindeer too
+    And many many more.
+    They all joined feet and flippers and fins
+    And danced ’round the Pole where the world begins,
+    With bark and bellow and roar.
+
+    When Boreas started an Irish reel
+    The Reindeer pricked up his ears;
+    And a thrill ran through him from antler to heel
+    Of longing to dance that he couldn’t conceal,
+    Although the most proper of deers.
+    So they scattered some sand in an open space
+    And gave him a hearty call;
+    And he sidestepped out with a rythmical pace,
+    And danced to the reel with the greatest of grace.
+    ’Twas the finest thing at the ball!
+
+    An Iceberg waltzed with the Northern Light;
+    And she flushed and smiled and said:
+    “O, why, dear Berg, so cool tonight?
+    You give me a chill and a frosty fright,
+    Lest I catch a cold in my head.”
+    “I’m as warm as I dare to be, my sweet,
+    With dancing and love of you;
+    If I loved you more or should hurry my feet,
+    My blood would rise to a fever heat,
+    Fahrenheit thirty-two.
+    And then I’d melt and babble away,
+    From a tall iceberg to a big flat bay;
+    Melted for love of you.”
+
+    The Walrus danced with the Polar Bear,
+    But it wasn’t much for grace;
+    Their joints were rusty and out of repair:
+    But the Bear wore an icicle wreath in her hair,
+    And the Walrus a smiling face.
+    And the Chaperone said, behind her fan:
+    “They’re doing the best they possibly can,
+    And laughter is out of place!”
+
+    The North Pole listened and wondered why
+    He felt such a troublesome thrill;
+    Though he stood stock still as they all danced by,
+    It was sorely against his will.
+    But if he should move just the wink of an eye,
+    The world would wabble and things would fly
+    And the oceans would surely spill.
+    So he heaved a sigh and took a brace
+    And held himself in his proper place,
+    And “the old world wags on still.”
+
+
+
+
+                        A TROPICAL AFTERNOON TEA
+
+
+    One afternoon when a mild monsoon
+    Blew over the tropical sea,
+    On the ocean strand of a sandy land
+    They gave a Tropical Tea.
+
+      O, O, who could foresee
+      All the beasts there would be at a Tropical Tea?
+      In a monsoony land,
+      With a Tropical Band.
+      O, who could foresee?
+
+    Every lady beast attended the feast
+    With the lady birds so fair;
+    But the Whale and the Eel were sure they would feel
+    Quite out of their element there.
+
+      O, O, think of an Eel!
+      With a squirming disgust that she couldn’t conceal!
+      Nothing wet but the tea,
+      Far away from the sea.
+      O, think of the Eel!
+
+    A truce for the day kept the beasts of prey
+    From eating a handy guest;
+    So the Tiger was there and the timid Hare,--
+    Though the Hare wasn’t quite at her best.
+
+      O, O, if the Hare wasn’t scared!
+      She would have gone lippetty home if she’d dared.
+      But she gave up the flight
+      And kept well out of sight.
+      O, wasn’t she scared!
+
+    The Zebra sneered when the Leopard appeared,
+    And said with a satisfied smile:
+    “In France they would not wear a dress with a spot
+    And stripes are the latest style.”
+
+      O, surely the Zebra forgot
+      That the Leopard’s unable to alter a spot;
+      Her critical tone
+      She’d have dropped if she’d known.
+      She surely forgot!
+
+    The Ostrich was dressed in her very best
+    With plumy wings outspread;
+    But the Paradise Bird said: “How absurd!
+    She hasn’t a plume for her head!”
+
+      O, O, it wasn’t polite!
+      The Ostrich felt sure that she looked like a fright.
+      She covered her head
+      In a handy sand-bed
+      Quite out of their sight.
+
+    The Chimpanzee sipped oolong tea
+    And simpered and nibbled a sweet;
+    And the Boa-constrictor would fain have kicked her,
+    But she hadn’t the requisite feet.
+
+      O, O, she wasn’t complete!
+      A twenty foot Boa without any feet;
+      If she’d had twenty three
+      What a kicker she’d be!
+      She wasn’t complete!
+
+    An Orang-outang came out and sang
+    Unembarrassed by the throng;
+    And they cried encore with a terrible roar
+    To her tropical, topical song.
+
+    SONG:
+    In the jungle dim and dusky,
+    A monkey lithe and husky
+    Was hanging by his long prehensile tail;
+    When he heard two men, preparing
+    An iron cage, declaring
+    That they’d learn the monkey lingo without fail.
+
+      O, O, wasn’t it fun!
+      He unhooked his tail and he started to run;
+      Every simian friend
+      To the dim jungle’s end
+      He told of the fun!
+
+    When at night the men were waiting
+    Safe behind the iron grating,
+    The monkeys came in crowds from every way,
+    And although it was exciting,
+    Yet the men inside were writing
+    All the things they thought they heard the monkeys say.
+
+      O, O, this is a lark!
+      Two men writing monkey talk down in the dark;
+      If they only could know
+      What we’re saying, O, O,
+      Then ’twould be a lark!
+
+    An Elephant rose with a cold in her nose
+    And she thought she would sing like a bird;
+    But the song went astray on the wearisome way
+    Through her trunk, and it never was heard.
+
+      O, O, she felt like a goose;
+      With a song in her soul that she couldn’t turn loose;
+      How she twisted and blew!
+      But it couldn’t get through.
+      O, what was the use!
+
+    A Crocodile with an afternoon smile
+    Sang a song that made them quail.
+    Her mouth opened wide and the sight inside
+    Gave point to her musical tale.
+
+    SONG:
+    A yacht came sailing up the Nile,
+      Sail away, sail away,
+    And the sight made every crocodile smile;
+      Smile away, smile away,
+    With a bubbly wake, through foam and spray,
+    Through Egypt’s land, it sailed away.
+      Alack-a-day!
+
+    The Sphinx was smiling all the while,
+      Smile away, smile away,
+    As the yacht came sailing up the Nile;
+      Sail away, sail away,
+    And she asked them a riddle that none could guess
+    So she swamped the yacht in a wink or less.
+      Alack-a-day!
+
+    Not a single person came to land;
+      Alack-a-day! Alack-a-day!
+    But crocodiles on every hand,
+      Smile away, smile away,
+    Said; “O, we wish that every day
+    A yacht would happen along this way!”
+      Alack-a-day!
+
+    And everyone stayed till the twilight shade
+    Dimmed the tropical afternoon.
+    And they all went away through the fading day,
+    By the moon through the mild Monsoon.
+
+      O, O, it was a lark!
+      They gossipped and stayed till the edge of the dark.
+      And some were afraid
+      And were sorry they’d stayed.
+      O, wasn’t it dark!
+
+
+
+
+                               THE TIDES
+
+
+    The ocean had, in days of yore,
+    A very dirty, mussy shore
+    From Newfoundland to Singapore.
+
+    When mermaids wished to go to land,
+    To sit and sing upon the strand,
+    They had to flop through slimy sand.
+
+    When Neptune saw this, it befell,
+    He took his dolphin team and shell
+    And sped away across the swell.
+
+    He went to every sea and bay,
+    And gave his orders all the way
+    From Greenland’s rim to far Cathay;--
+
+    And now the tides rise up and roar,
+    And twice a day they wash the shore
+    From Newfoundland to Singapore;
+
+    And beaches lie all clean and fair,
+    Where mermaids sing and take the air
+    With tidy tails and streaming hair.
+
+
+
+
+                             NIGHT AND DAY
+
+
+    Before Time started on his way
+    There was no changing night and day;
+    The sun stood still above Bombay.
+
+    And Bombay people had to hear
+    The constant clanging far and near
+    Of bells that called to noonday cheer.
+
+    They ate continuously, for when
+    They finished their dessert, why then
+    They started off with soup again.
+
+    One eats with pleasure and a jest
+    With time between meals to digest;
+    But constant eating spoils the zest.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    About three thousand miles away
+    In all directions from Bombay
+    It was forever early day;
+
+    And people worked with might and main
+    Hoping for dinner time and fain
+    For night and rest, but all in vain.
+
+    A sandwich snatched, a wedge of pie,
+    A cat-nap stolen on the sly,
+    These were the only reasons why,
+
+    Since they could neither rest or play,
+    They didn’t stop in sheer dismay
+    And starve, dry up and blow away.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And further on for many a mile
+    The dawn held sway with rosy smile,
+    And yawning folks dressed all the while.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    The rest of earth was brooded o’er
+    By endless night, and one grand snore
+    Swelled loud and long from shore to shore.
+
+    And folks would wake with start and sigh
+    And rub their eyes and wonder why
+    Dawn never tinged the eastern sky.[1]
+
+    The moon and stars were wan and pale
+    From overwork, the nightingale
+    Could only croak and hoarsely wail.
+
+    But ghosts might range abroad at will
+    Fearless of dawn and cock-crow shrill,
+    And waken folks with awful thrill.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Now Phoebus driving in his car
+    With winged steeds from star to star,
+    Passed by the earth and from afar
+
+    Beheld the weary human race;
+    He checked his horses for a space
+    And pondered with a serious face;
+
+    Then put his horses to the run
+    And when a long swift course was done
+    He hitched his wagon to the sun.
+
+    Since then the dusky night alway
+    Around the world has chased the day;
+    And we can work and rest and play.
+
+[1]
+
+    Some critic now will surely say:--
+    “How could they think of dawn when they
+    Had never been where it was day?”
+
+    Their shiftless forbears may have pined
+    In dawn-land, and with debts behind
+    Have gone where they were hard to find.
+
+    So, gentle critic, be content.
+    This hope of dawn was surely sent
+    By atavistic accident.
+
+
+
+
+                               FUNNYLAND
+
+
+    There’s an island ’way off in the seas
+    Where the babies all grow upon trees.
+      It’s the jolliest fun
+      To swing in the sun;
+    But they have to look out how they sneeze,
+    O, I tell you they’d better not sneeze!
+      They might break themselves off
+      With a sneeze or a cough
+    And tumble down flop on their knees.
+
+    When the clouds darken mountain and dale,
+    When the breeze freshens up to a gale,
+      There is screaming and dropping
+      And laughing and hopping;--
+    In fact little babies just hail.
+    They all lie on the ground in a pile,
+    And when people come, after a while,
+      They quickly pass by
+      The babies that cry,
+    And they pick up the babies that smile;--
+    O, they even take twins if they smile!
+
+    There’s a tree where the kitty-cats grow.
+    They hang by their tails in a row;
+      If they happen to fall,
+      They don’t mind it at all,
+    For they fall on their feet as you know.
+
+    There once was a puppy-dog tree
+    That people came miles just to see.
+      But the bark was so loud
+      That it scattered the crowd
+    And rattled the isles of the sea;
+      It frightened the King,
+      And the troublesome thing
+    Was cut down by a royal decree.
+    Whenever dogs grow now at all,
+    They are puggy and snarly and small;
+      They grow on a vine
+      Like a squash, and they whine
+    Although they can’t possibly fall.
+
+    Wherever an elephant grows,
+    He’s always hitched on by his nose;
+      And he just has to wait
+      Till his weight is so great
+    That his nose is stretched out to a hose;--
+    That accounts for his rubbery nose.
+    And sometimes, when something is wrong,
+    The elephant hitch is so strong
+      That he fails to get free
+      From the elephant tree
+    Till his nose is a hundred feet long.
+      So he buys a hose-cart
+      To trundle a part
+    Of his nose as he lumbers along.
+
+    Any sensible person should know
+    How giraffes are hitched on when they grow.
+      Their necks elongate
+      With increase of their weight
+    Till their feet touch the ground and they go.
+
+    When first a young donkey appears,
+    He hangs from the limb by his ears;
+      And he hangs till the day
+      When he first tries to bray--
+    O, the tree shakes him off when it hears!
+    And he runs away wagging his ears.
+
+    The birdies swim ’round in the sea,
+    With the wasp and the bungleing bee.
+      If you dangle a worm,
+      With a wiggley squirm,
+    You might catch a chick-a-dee-dee.
+
+    The fishes swim ’round in the sky,
+    With pollywogs woggleing by,
+      While frogs hop around
+      On the clouds to the sound
+    Of the song of the lobsters that fly.
+
+    A wonderful Funnyland sight
+    Is a mountain of very great height;
+      But you never could guess
+      What happens unless
+    You should be there on Saturday night.
+
+    When the sun in the west is aglow
+    The whole mountain rumbles, and lo,
+      It pours out a stream
+      Of assorted ice-cream
+    By the banks where the macaroons grow.
+    Then from city and country and town,
+    The children, of king and of clown,
+      All run with their spoons
+      And they pick macaroons
+    And they eat till they have to lie down.
+
+    But the thing that the children adore,
+    Is a mountain that stands by the shore,
+      With a cratery pot
+      Where molasses keeps hot
+    With trickles of taffy galore.
+    Sometimes it rains pop-corn at night;
+    And all of the kernels that light
+      On the mountain-top, pop,
+      And they hop, and they drop,
+    Till the top of the mountain is white;
+      And corn balls roll down
+      To the edge of the town,
+    While the children dance ’round with delight.
+
+    There’s a spring hidden deep in a glade,
+    Of most excellent pink lemonade.
+      It falls in a pool
+      All bubbly cool
+    From a babbling and brawling cascade;
+    And the children, each summery day
+    When they’re thirsty with rollicking play,
+      Go there and dip up
+      Lemonade in a cup
+    And drink till their buttons give ’way.
+
+    When Funnyland children have chills
+    And fever, or colicky ills,
+      They are not put to bed
+      To be poulticed and fed
+    On gruel and puckery pills.
+    When the Doctor comes in to advise,
+    He says, as he scowls and looks wise:
+      “You’ve been eating brown bread
+      And potatoes instead
+    Of good wholesome candies and pies.
+    I can tell by the look in your eye
+    That you’ve kept your feet constantly dry.
+      For a lassie or lad
+      It is best to be bad,
+    Don’t even be good on the sly.”
+
+    The Funnyland clerk of the weather
+    Doesn’t waste his time finding out whether
+      Tomorrow’ll be blowy
+      Or sunny or snowy;--
+    O, he’s wiser than that altogether.
+    He carefully studies the past
+    And runs up a flag on a mast,
+      So that people can see
+      If there’s going to be
+    A thunder storm week before last.
+
+    The hunters go forth to the lair
+    Of the Tiger with crimps in his hair.
+      And peppery snuff
+      Is the terrible stuff
+    That they shoot at the blundering Bear.
+    For lo, when they happen to spy
+    The bears that go wandering by,
+      They shoot off their gun
+      And, although the bears run,
+    They sneeze off their heads and they die.
+
+    But they never go hunting this way
+    For the Tiboons that live in the bay;
+      When they sneeze, O, the sound
+      Cracks the air, and the ground
+    Wabbles ’round in a terrible way.
+      So the King’s Grenadiers,
+      With wool in their ears,
+    Stand always in warlike array
+      On the edge of the sand
+      With a fan in each hand
+    To keep tickley dust from the bay;
+      So the Tiboons won’t sneeze
+      Shaking surf from the seas
+    And rattling the islands away.
+
+    The King goes forth daily at noon,
+    To parade with the knights of the moon;
+      And he’s grandly arrayed
+      In clothes that are made
+    From the skin of a raging Tiboon;
+    A roaring and ramping Tiboon.
+
+    There was only one man in the isles
+    Who was wily enough with his wiles
+      To capture this beast,
+      So that people could feast
+    And the King could keep up with the styles.
+    He stealthily crept to the bay
+    While the little Tiboons were at play,
+      And their parents were drowsing
+      Or quietly browsing.
+    (They can’t rage the whole of the day!)
+
+    The man waded quietly near
+    To the biggest Tiboon, from the rear,
+      And he tied a tin pail
+      To the end of his tail;
+    O, the Tiboon went crazy with fear;
+    His raging was awful to hear.
+      But he finally died
+      Of a twisted inside,--
+    Thus ended his ramping career.
+
+    The soldiers are never afraid
+    To march in a long cavalcade
+      To His Majesty’s park
+      To shoot at a mark
+    Or take part in a deadly parade;--
+    A boom-ta-rah-rahing parade.
+      When the band blows a blare
+      To crack open the air,
+    O, the soldiers are never afraid.
+    For years, through the King’s oversight,
+    They had never been called out to fight;
+      And they thirsted for gore,
+      (Other people’s) and swore
+    That they languished to fight for the right.
+
+    One day the King happened to spy
+    A ship sailing by in the sky;
+      And, I grieve to relate,
+      Made a face at the Mate,
+    And the Mate was insulted thereby;
+    In fact “he had blood in his eye.”
+
+    So he signalled the Chief Engineer
+    To check the ship’s raging career,
+      And the anchor dropped down
+      And caught on the Town,
+    While the children all trembled with fear,--
+    A lovely, blood-curdling fear!
+    Then the best parachute was prepared,
+    And the Mate, while the people all stared,
+      Came zigzagging down
+      In the midst of the town;
+    But the King didn’t look a bit scared.
+    (Though I think that he would if he’d dared.)
+
+    The face of the furious Mate
+    Was covered with whiskers and hate;
+      “The people,” said he,
+      “Who make faces at me
+    All meet with a horrible fate,--
+    A midnighty, church-yardy fate.”
+    “Surrender your Funnyland isle!
+    Surrender your treasury pile!
+      Surrender to me!”
+      But the King said, said he,
+    “Excuse me dear Sir, if I smile!”
+    (O, his smile could be seen for a mile!)
+
+    When the speaking and smiling were done
+    The army came up at a run.
+      O, the Mate was alarmed,
+      For each soldier was armed
+    With a kind of sky-rocketty gun.
+    They drew up in battle array
+    All loaded and primed for the fray.
+      O, the racket was dire
+      At the order to fire,
+    And the Mate--why he fainted away.
+    (’Twas the one way of getting away.)
+    Then there came a most terrible crash,
+    Such as big things make, going to smash;
+      For the ship struck the ground,
+      And the air all around
+    Was filled up with splinters and trash,
+    Dust, kindling-wood, oakum and hash.
+    (The Captain and crew were the hash.)
+
+    The Mate knew his chances were slim,
+    But he never suspected how grim
+      Was his oncoming fate.
+      He was destined to wait
+    On the King who’d made faces at him,--
+    Disrespectful, wry faces at him!
+
+    If you ever should sail in the air
+    As mate of a ship, O, beware!
+      If a King in full view
+      Should make faces at you,
+    Don’t suffer your anger to flare;--
+    Remember this tragic affair!
+
+    The Funnyland chimneys are all
+    So large and exceedingly tall,
+      That Santa Claus shook
+      In his shoes when he took
+    A look at the distance to fall;
+      Then he altered his plan
+      Like a wise little man
+    And didn’t climb chimneys at all.
+    But in dooryards of every degree
+    He planted a curious tree;
+      And now every year
+      When Christmas is near
+    The fruit is a wonder to see.
+    There are dollies and trolleys and rows
+    Of silky and satiny clothes;
+      And candles and strings
+      Of tinsel, and rings
+    For the fingers and bells for the toes.
+
+    There are serpents and sugary hearts;
+    Tin soldiers and cinnamon tarts;
+      While bicycles grow
+      On the branches below
+    With wagons and wabbly carts.
+    There are ducks that you squeeze and they squawk;
+    And green polly-parrots that talk;
+      And filberts and figs,
+      And cottony pigs
+    That you pull by a string and they walk.
+    On Christmas Eve children go out
+    To the Santa Claus tree with a shout,
+      And put baskets below
+      The things that they know
+    That they couldn’t be happy without.
+
+    Then Santa Claus comes in the night
+    When there isn’t a person in sight;
+      And he chuckles with glee
+      As he climbs every tree
+    And shakes it with all of his might.
+    Things rustle and rattle and flop,
+    And loosen and tumble and drop,
+      Till the children awake
+      With the noise that they make
+    And the baskets are full to the top.
+
+    Just think of the wide-open eyes
+    Of children awaiting surprise!
+      They tumble and twist
+      And sit up and insist
+    That the sun has forgotten to rise.
+    Then all, when the windows grow gray,
+    Run out in their bedtime array,
+      And the frolic begins;--
+      They would like to be twins
+    To double the joy of the day.
+
+    When slanting moonbeams touch the hills,
+      And shadows fill the glen;
+    When people all are fast asleep,
+      The little maids and men
+    From Fairyland come sliding down
+      The moonbeams in a row,
+    With tuneful laugh and merry jest
+      And faces all aglow;
+    As children in the winter lands
+      Toboggan on the snow.
+    The moonlight gleams on gauzy wings
+      And glints from precious stones;
+    And caps are crowned with little bells
+      With silvery tinkling tones,
+    Each Fairy wears a cob-web dress,
+      And through this filmy guise
+    The mischief shows in every move
+      And sparkles in their eyes.
+
+    And some with bags of happy dreams
+      Go softly stealing where
+    The island children lie asleep,
+      And while they’re unaware
+    Untie the bags, and lo, the doors
+      Of wonderland stand wide!
+    I hope, my child, you’ve been sometimes
+      Where dream-bags were untied.
+
+    The crooked gnomes, with peaked hats
+      And faces ill to see,
+    Come swiftly riding night-mares too,
+      And with an elfish glee
+    They gallop over children who
+      Ate fruitcake after tea.
+    I hope, my child, you do not know
+      About the things they see.
+
+    One fairy stole a pepper-box
+      And flew above the bay,
+    And scattered clouds of pepper where
+      The sleeping Tiboons lay.
+    The Tiboons sneezed, the islands shook,
+      And chimneys tumbled down.
+    The people thought a foe had come
+      To cannonade the town.
+    The King got up and trembled so
+      He joggled off his crown.
+    My child, if Tiboons chance to live
+      In any neighboring bay,
+    You’d better lock the pepper up
+      Whenever you’re away.
+
+    One night with fairy mandolins
+      They played such ’witching strains,
+    A kind of dancing madness ran
+      Through every hearer’s veins;
+    The players passed the Palace Gate;
+      The King and Queen and all
+    The people of the household came
+      A-dancing through the hall.
+    They hadn’t time to don their dress
+      Who heard the music’s call.
+    They danced the streets, and all who heard
+      The music lilt along,
+    Came tripping lightly at the sound
+      To join the merry throng;
+    Till all the people in the isle,
+      In sleeping clothes arrayed,
+    Were dancing in the moonlight night
+      In motley masquerade.
+    They danced and whirled beside the bay
+      Where Tiboons by the score,
+    Who’d heard the merry mandolins,
+      Were skipping on the shore.
+    One Tiboon gave his flipper to
+      His Majesty the King,
+    And there together on the sand
+      They “cut a pigeon-wing.”
+    The Fairies laughed until they cried,
+      ’Twas such a funny thing!
+
+    At dawn the Fairies flew away;
+      The dancing stopped--ah me!
+    The weariness and burning shame
+      Were very sad to see.
+    A sort of Sunday quiet filled
+      The isle from shore to shore;
+    But Fairyland resounded with
+      A most hilarious roar.
+    My child, when slanting moonbeams fall
+      Around your house, beware,
+    Lest Fairies with their mandolins
+      Should catch you unaware.
+
+
+
+
+                             A MARSH LYRIC
+
+With humble apologies to the Shade of Edward Lear.
+
+
+    He went to hunt on the marsh, he did;
+      A middle-aged man was he;
+    In spite of all his friends could say,
+    On a foggy morn of a Winter’s day
+      To the mushy marsh went he.
+    And everyone said who saw him go;
+    “O, he’ll surely stick in the slough below,
+    For the mud is deep and the tide is strong
+    And happen what may it’s extremely wrong
+      For a man of forty three.”
+
+        Slime and slough, slime and slough,
+          In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;
+        Their heads are green and their bills are blue
+          But there wasn’t a duck for him!
+
+    The water came into his boots, it did;
+      The water and mud came in;
+    But he called aloud, “My boots will do
+    To hold my feet and the water too,”
+      As he held his chattering chin.
+    And he found a fish and a soft-shell clam
+    And he said: “How extremely wise I am;
+    Though the marsh is broad and the sloughs are long,
+    I shall never think I was rash or wrong
+      To come where the fog blows in.”
+
+        Slime and slough, slime and slough,
+          In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;
+        Their heads are green and their bills are blue
+          But there wasn’t a duck for him!
+
+    He went to the shore of the bay, he did
+      To the shore where the tules grow;
+    And he shot at a hawk and a brown marsh-owl,
+    And a rail and a teal and a feathery fowl
+      Whose name he didn’t know.
+    He shot at a snipe and a wild goose gray,
+    And a spoonbill duck that didn’t stay,
+    And a fat mud-hen and a butter-ball;
+    And he shot three times at a heron tall,
+      And a pelican big and slow.
+
+        Slime and slough, slime and slough,
+          In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;
+        Their heads are green and their bills are blue
+          But there wasn’t a duck for him!
+
+    The birds all laughed out loud, they did;
+      To see the hunter there;
+    And they said: “It’s just no end of fun
+    When a middle-aged man with a great big gun
+      Shoots ragged holes in the air.”
+    And the wild gray goose kept laughing till
+    The tears in streams ran down his bill;
+    For there’s fun so funny, the ducks agree
+    That even the biggest goose can see;
+      But the hunter was unaware.
+
+        Slime and slough, slime and slough,
+          In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;
+        Their heads are green and their bills are blue
+          But there wasn’t a duck for him!
+
+    Toward night the man came back, he did,
+      With movements sad and slow.
+    And they said: “He’s been to the briny bay;
+    And he wasn’t drowned in the usual way;
+      But he hasn’t a bird to show.”
+    They gave him toast and some tule tea,
+    And drank long life that they couldn’t foresee;
+    And everyone said: “Some other day
+    We too will hunt by the foggy bay
+      Where the slimy sloughs o’erflow.”
+
+        Slime and slough, slime and slough,
+          In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;
+        Their heads are green and their bills are blue
+          But there wasn’t a duck for him!
+
+
+
+
+                        THE BOY AND THE BASILISK
+
+
+    Of all the fearsome, ugly things
+    With arms or legs or fins or wings,
+    That haunt the earth or seas or skies,
+    The Basilisk with fiery eyes
+    For fearsomeness took every prize.
+    His home, within a barren glen,
+    Was shunned by beasts and birds and men.
+    It didn’t matter; what cared he
+    For senseless sociability.
+
+    Daily the Basilisk would take
+    A trip down to a boiling lake
+    Of brimstone which he drank until
+    He had to crawl with care or spill.
+    He thought hot brimstone just the thing
+    With small blue flames for garnishing.
+    He swallowed it without a wink;
+    It served him both for food and drink.
+    Then stretched upon the blistering shore
+    He slept, and lo, a sulphurous snore
+    Resounded loud and long and slow
+    From Zululand to Borneo.
+    None knew who heard this fearsome roar
+    Of what the future held in store.
+
+    When in his most goodnatured mood,
+    He basked content and filled with food,
+    His mildest glance would kill a tree,
+    Or split a rock or boil the sea.
+    ’Twere wisdom then to shun his path
+    If he were roused to righteous wrath.
+
+    The Imp who kept the boiling lake
+    Supplied with sulphur, by mistake
+    Sent all the stock another way;
+    The surface settled every day;
+    And then--the lake went wholly dry.
+    It was a fearful hungry cry
+    With which, in no placating mood,
+    The Basilisk set out for food.
+
+    With anxious haste he left the glen
+    And sought the homes of beasts and men;
+    For, lacking brimstone, he could stand
+    ’Most any food that came to hand.
+    In fact he could, as you can guess,
+    Stand anything but emptyness.
+    For forty feet to left and right
+    He blasted everything in sight.
+    He spied upon a distant steep
+    A peaceful flock of grazing sheep.
+    He hustled up, this monster grim,
+    For mutton was the meat for him!
+
+    As he approached with hungry gaze,
+    Each sheep burned up with sulphurous blaze;
+    And coming to the place he found
+    Just piles of ashes on the ground.
+    Now when a monster seeking food
+    Finds ashes, the resulting mood
+    Is apt to be a thing to dread;
+    In fact he turned a fiery red.
+    He would have turned white hot but he
+    Feared burning up spontaneously.
+    He could have raged and gnashed his jaws;
+    He could have scratched with all his claws;
+    He had a long and mighty tail,
+    He could have lashed it like a flail.
+    What was the use, no thing in sight
+    Was left whereon to vent his spite.
+    Why should he make a grand-stand play
+    With grand-stands all so far away?
+    The Basilisk was not too dense
+    To temper rage with common sense.
+    He reasoned thus: “Since I destroy
+    By gazing, things I’d fain enjoy,
+    The one conclusion that I find
+    Is--I must starve or go it blind.”
+    He shut his eyelids with a snap
+    And started out across the map.
+
+    He gobbled here a flock of sheep,
+    And there he found some cows asleep.
+    By working overtime he could
+    Obtain a modest livlihood.
+    Sometimes he made a meal of men,
+    He could get on with eight or ten.
+    A load of wheat, a bale of hay,
+    A bunch of bushes by the way,
+    All these sufficed to partly fill
+    The need of his digestive mill.
+
+    Sometimes when hunger would abate
+    From fullness, he would meditate;
+    And burning curiosity
+    Would fill his bosom full, for he
+    Was fain to see the landscape where
+    He sought his humble daily fare.
+    But when he chanced to crack his eye
+    All things in sight would blaze and fry;
+    And thus he failed of his desire
+    To see the country free from fire.
+    And also, when he tried to see,
+    No man in range had time to flee.
+    Perhaps ’twere better just to burn
+    And have one’s ashes in an urn,
+    Than to be gobbled up and risk
+    One’s self inside the Basilisk.
+
+    This Monster with his hungry wrath
+    Left death and ruin in his path;
+    And as he went on pasturing,
+    He neared the palace of the King.
+    The King had heard how, far away,
+    The Basilisk made disarray
+    By skuffing up the landscape’s face
+    And swallowing the populace.
+    If this continued, it was plain
+    He’d have no reason left to reign.
+    Though far above the common mob,
+    He didn’t like to lose his job.
+    ’Twas now a far more serious thing,
+    The populace might lose their King!
+    So he sent out a hurry call;
+    The Council hustled to the hall,
+    And talked and talked and talked some more;
+    And then--a Basiliskian roar
+    Reverberated near and far;
+    It made the palace windows jar!
+    Then silence fell and everyone
+    Forgot to talk and wished to run.
+    (’Tis hoped the reader won’t mind this
+    Irrelevant parenthesis.
+    Each King or Queen or Potentate
+    Or man who runs a town or state,
+    Should have a Basilisk to stalk
+    Around the place for stopping talk.)
+
+    Responding to the King’s command,
+    A man whose voice could drown a band,
+    Came up and stood before the throne.
+    The King passed out his megaphone
+    And said: “Go forth by every way
+    Unto my kingdom’s bound and say,
+    ‘Hear ye, hear ye, the King declares
+    That he who kills this beast or scares
+    His hungry ugliness away
+    To lands where he’ll be sure to stay,
+    Shall be a knight and have a key
+    That fits the royal treasury.’”
+    The man went forth straightway and tried
+    His voice upon the countryside.
+    The Basilisk, in great surprise,
+    Woke up and almost blinked his eyes;
+    He wished so much to see who kept
+    This racket going while he slept.
+    At last before he noticed it,
+    His eyelids opened just a slit;
+    A little blaze, a little whir--
+    The King had lost his messenger!
+    “Alas the day!” bewailed the King,
+    “I see my finish in this thing.
+    The Council can convene no more
+    For fear the Basilisk may roar.
+    The soldiers are of no avail;
+    You can’t expect them not to quail
+    When thinking of the awful risk
+    In war against the Basilisk.”
+
+    Just then, a half grown Boy alone
+    Came in and walked up to the throne,
+    And said: “Your Majesty, I heard
+    Your proclamation. I am stirred
+    To undertake to overwhelm
+    The beast that now despoils the realm.”
+    The King considered for a while
+    And raised his hand to hide a smile.
+    But though His Royal Highness smiled,
+    ’Most any plan however wild,
+    Seemed in this dire emergency
+    Worth trying; therefore a decree
+    Went forth at once to authorize
+    This Boy’s unusual enterprise.
+    “Farewell, my Boy,” called out the King,
+    “And may you overcome the thing!”
+    “Prepare” said he, “a burial urn
+    To hold this youth on his return.”
+
+    The Boy took neither bow nor spear,
+    Nor any other warlike gear.
+    A basket, broom and tin dustpan
+    Were carried by a serving man.
+    Two others carried on before
+    A mirror large as any door.
+    Thus they went forth along the way
+    Frequented by this beast of prey.
+    With mirror set and polished clear,
+    The party waited in the rear.
+    The Monster came; they could not see,
+    But hearing made them wish to flee.
+    He blindly stumbled up before
+    The mirror; then he heard a roar;
+    He stopped; his eyelids slowly raised;
+    His eyes, uncovered, fairly blazed;
+    He saw himself; he winked--too late!
+    His mirrored glance had sealed his fate.
+    A great black smoke, a flame, a boom,
+    Some ashes swept up with a broom!
+    The fearsome Basilisk had died,
+    Against his will, by suicide.
+    His ashes occupied the urn
+    Prepared against the Boy’s return.
+
+    And when the Boy grew up he chose
+    The Princess for his bride and rose
+    To occupy the throne in state
+    When Basilisks were out of date.
+
+
+
+
+                              RETRIBUTION
+
+
+    Cupid tired of the twang
+      Of his bow-string said;
+    “I will try a boomerang
+      In the arrow’s stead.”
+
+    Pliant to his cunning art
+      Far the weapon whirled;
+    Touched a throbbing human heart;
+      Changed its little world.
+
+    Boomerangs come back, and this
+      Hit the careless elf;
+    Lo, into love’s baleful bliss
+      Cupid fell himself.
+
+
+
+
+                          WHY THE SEA IS SALT
+
+                             AN OLD STORY.
+
+Long ago the water was fresh that now is salt in the seven seas.
+
+
+    Once on a time upon a moor
+    There lived a man who grew so poor
+    That though he toiled with all his might
+    From early morn till late at night,
+    He found it harder every day
+    To keep the hunger wolf away.
+
+    One Christmas eve in deep despair
+    He found the cupboards all were bare.
+    His wife and children hungry-eyed
+    Their dumb reproaches strove to hide;
+    But all in vain, their deep distress
+    Caused him to groan in helplessness.
+    All hopelessly he turned about
+    To seek what fate might hand him out.
+
+    His old godmother years ago
+    Had helped him when his funds were low;
+    But she had been for many a day
+    Godmothering so far away,
+    That thoughtlessly she’d failed to heed
+    This godson’s present, direful need.
+    But now by chance with beaming smile
+    She met him e’er he’d gone a mile.
+
+    She said, “Come, shorten up your face;
+    The world’s a very pleasant place!”
+    Alas, her cheer could not avail;
+    He told her all his woeful tale.
+    She brought out from her ample cloak
+    A side of bacon brown with smoke,
+    And said, “Take this and keep on straight
+    Until you reach an iron gate;
+    It is the gate of hell--repress
+    Your tendency to nervousness,
+    The Devil never would admit
+    A man like you into the pit;
+    But with the bacon you can go
+    Into the anteroom of woe.
+    Now everybody knows full well
+    That bacon’s very scarce in hell;
+    And any of the Devil’s kind
+    Would sell his soul for bacon rind.[2]
+    Just look behind the entrance door;
+    You’ll see a mill upon the floor.
+    Don’t come away from there until
+    You trade that bacon for the mill.”
+
+    And so it happened in detail;
+    The man’s persistence did prevail;
+    He took the mill with him, while hell
+    Was filled with frying bacon smell.
+
+    The man’s godmother made him stay
+    A minute on his homeward way,
+    That he might gain the needed skill
+    To operate the magic mill.
+    With hands above the mill outspread
+    She bade him listen well and said:--
+
+          “Grind, mill grind
+          The thing that’s in my mind;
+          Grind, mill grind.”
+
+    Round went the mill, a “coach and four”
+    Stood ready with an open door.
+
+          “Stay, mill stay,
+          No more I pray,
+          Stay, mill stay.”
+
+    So said the dame; and lo, the mill
+    Stopped instantly and stood stock still.
+    (Imagine how ’twould be today
+    If she had let it grind away!)
+
+    The man turned round with thankful pride
+    To ask the dame to have a ride;
+    But she had vanished; with a thrill
+    He lifted up the precious mill,
+    Stepped in the coach and banged the door
+    As if he’d done it oft before.
+    (He took with grace, like you or me,
+    An unaccustomed luxury.)
+
+    He reached his home and bolted in;
+    The mill ground with a merry din,
+    A table, chairs, and linen laid
+    By butler and a serving maid;
+    A shining set of silver plate,
+    And food and drink enough to sate
+    A hungry family, and then--
+    The mill was asked to grind again.
+    ’Twas Christmas eve and all with glee
+    Asked of the mill a Christmas tree.
+
+    Then for each happy, weary head
+    It ground a grateful downy bed;
+    And then, ah me, such restful sleep!
+    For sweet and pleasant dreams too deep.
+
+    But one small daughter woke in fright,
+    (I’m sure her supper wasn’t light.)
+
+    And while she lay there scared and still,
+    She said the rhyme to start the mill.
+    Now nightmares of most every kind
+    Just then filled up her little mind.
+    The mill began and from its spout
+    Assorted nightmares galloped out.
+    They kept on coming out until
+    The father woke and stopped the mill.
+    Alas, the nightmares still were there,
+    Neighing and stamping everywhere.
+    The man called on the mill to grind
+    A driver of the nightmare kind;
+    And when one came he stopped the mill.
+    The driver drove the nightmares till
+    There wasn’t one that you could find;
+    And as he followed on behind
+    He cracked his whip with leathern thong
+    And drove them back where they belong.
+    So quiet was restored and then
+    They all went back to sleep again.
+
+    The next day saw a busy mill;
+    It ground a mansion on a hill,
+    With all things else they could require
+    To make the land of heart’s desire.
+
+    Then, since the man was wise, behold,
+    It ground the cellars full of gold.
+    And then the mill was put away
+    And never turned for many a day.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    A Captain of a freighting ship,
+    Who sailed with salt, trip after trip,
+    Heard of the magic mill; said he,
+    “I’d never have to sail the sea
+    If I could get that mill, ah well,
+    I’ll ask the man if he will sell.”
+    “I’d never sell the mill,” said he,
+    “I’ll give it to you willingly.”
+    The Captain scarce could trust his ears;
+    For he had had the gravest fears
+    That mills like this would come so high
+    That he could never hope to buy.
+    In haste he took the mill away;
+    He feared that if he made delay
+    The man might chance to change his mind.
+    He’d learned the rhyme to make it grind,
+    But his mad haste would not permit
+    His learning how to make it quit.
+    He reached the ship and sailed away;
+    And when they passed beyond the bay
+    He set the mill--the story’s told--
+    Where hatches opened to the hold.
+    Then said the rhyme to make it grind
+    While only salt was in his mind.
+    The salt streamed forth, the Captain smiled;
+    Not very long was he beguiled;
+    The hold was filled up to the top;
+    The Captain told the mill to stop.
+    It ground right on without a check;
+    The salt was piling on the deck.
+    His sword in anger then he drew
+    And cut the fiendish thing in two.
+    Each half kept grinding more and more;
+    The salt came faster than before.
+    It sank the ship and all were drowned;
+    But still the mill keeps turning ’round
+    And grinding salt; so that must be
+    The way the salt came in the sea.
+
+[2]
+
+    The critics here will stop and tell
+    How devils haven’t souls to sell.
+
+
+
+
+                                OVERDONE
+
+
+    Time was old and on his way
+    Slowly toiled; it seemed the day
+    Ne’er would end; it seemed the Sun
+    Crawled the course he used to run.
+
+    But Love came, and when I showed
+    How Time lagged, he took a goad,
+    With its sharpened point of steel
+    Touched old Time upon his heel.
+    The laggard urged the tardy Sun
+    And like a boy began to run.
+
+    Stay, old Time, I pray thee stay!
+    Why this haste? Why make the day
+    All too short? Why make the Sun
+    Fly the course he used to run?
+
+
+
+
+                             THE WEST WIND
+
+
+    The King and Queen of the Esquimaux
+    Came forth from the royal palace to go
+    On a ringing sledge with a great dog team
+    ’Neath the clear still stars and the fitful gleam
+    Of the northern lights, on a long night ride
+    To the Pole and back, for the Queen was a bride,
+    And this was their wedding tour, heigh-ho!
+    For the ride of the royal Esquimaux!
+
+    The King was proud and the Queen was fair,
+    Though you wouldn’t have known it had you been there;
+    For they wore white fur from top to toe,
+    And you couldn’t tell t’other from which although
+    The King felt taller, though ’twas hard to see,
+    While the Queen was taller--horizontally.
+    At any rate when ready to ride
+    The King couldn’t reach round his royal bride.
+
+    The dogs were eager, they set them free;
+    They flew over snow and the frozen sea;
+    And the breath of the dogs and the King and Queen
+    Like little plumes in the cold so keen
+    Turned to frosty flakes that twinkled bright.
+    The rosy glow from the northern light
+    Grew pale and wan in the snapping cold;
+    But the dogs raced on for the King was bold.
+    On the cold white earth, ’neath the cold, cold sky
+    From the frozen sea to the glaciers high,
+    There wasn’t a living, breathing thing
+    Save the racing dogs and the Queen and King.
+
+    The cooling Queen, in esquimau,
+    Said, “Dear, how far are we to go?”
+    The King’s teeth chattered but he managed to say,
+    “I have vowed on this our wedding day
+    To show my bride how the world turns ’round,
+    And so, my dearest, we are bound
+    For the cold north pole--” I regret to say
+    That she broke in here in a certain way
+    That isn’t confined, as some folks know,
+    To the land of ice and the Esquimaux.
+    “Of course,” said she, “I’d love to go
+    To the ends of the earth with you, but O,
+    I would never dare to go in sight
+    Of the old north pole on such a night.”
+    Now the King was young and the King was bold,
+    And also newly married, behold!
+    He cracked his whip; with right good will
+    The dogs flew northward faster still.
+    But though this was his wedding day,
+    The King expected the Queen to say
+    A word or two of protest--no,
+    Not a word was heard from her although
+    Against her will she was hurried away;
+    So he turned--imagine his deep dismay,
+    She was white and still and frozen, alack!
+    The King saw why she didn’t talk back.
+    Now whatever the King was, he wasn’t slow;
+    He yelled the esquimau word for “whoa.”
+    They stopped and turned and the cracking whip
+    Urged the dogs due south at a good round clip.
+    Said the King, “O, Zephyrus, come and blow,”
+    (He was talking still in esquimau)
+    “Blow north; I know that you like best
+    To fan warm lands from the warm, far west,
+    But just for once do come and blow
+    And melt Jack Frost, my family foe;
+    And thaw my Queen, it’s surely plain
+    That a frozen Queen can’t help me to reign!”
+
+    And Zephyrus heard and softly blew,
+    And Jack Frost heard the sound and knew
+    The time had come for him to flee;
+    And he fled far north to the frozen sea.
+    The stars grew soft and the floating frost
+    Was turned to mist, and the Queen had lost
+    Her death-like pallor; a pink flush rose
+    To her cheeks and--alas--to her little flat nose.
+    Her eyelids fluttered and opened and then
+    She began the unfinished discussion again.
+    She looked at the King and said, “I’m bound
+    That I never shall see how the world turns round.”
+    And she didn’t. The King from that day forth
+    When he took her to drive never dared to turn north.
+    Alas, when they came to their palace of ice,
+    They found it a puddle that didn’t look nice;
+    For well-meaning Zephyrus just didn’t know
+    That enough is enough when they ask you to blow.
+    So the King and Queen spent more than a year
+    In a rented tent, while an engineer
+    And an architect, at a very high price,
+    Built a brand-new palace of brand-new ice.
+    And there they lived and, as you’ll foresee,
+    Were just as happy as happy could be.
+
+    But Zephyrus, as his wife fortold,
+    Came home with a very serious cold;
+    And though he improved, yet even today,
+    When he blows through a pine tree on his way,
+    He wheezes asthmatically all the way through.
+    Just listen some time and you’ll find this true.
+
+
+
+
+                             THE NORTH WIND
+
+
+    Long years ago and far away,
+    One very sunny, summer day,
+    In tropic lands, one special spot
+    Was very, very, very hot.
+
+    A King lay in the sweltering shade,
+    While crowds of dusky slaves arrayed
+    In almost nothing, tried to keep
+    His Highness cool enough to sleep.
+
+    Though fans were waved to stir the air,
+    Though fountains tinkled everywhere,
+    Though every noisy sound was stilled,
+    Though sweet and cooling odors filled
+    The air, though lulled was every sense,
+    The King was far from somnolence.
+
+    “Descend,” said he, “O, drowsy god;
+    Vouchsafe at least to let me nod.”
+    His prayer was vain, the god ’twas clear,
+    Was out or did not care to hear.
+
+    In desperation then the King
+    Called up a slave and bade him bring
+    Young Boreas, a big, fat fool,
+    And said, “Why don’t you make it cool?”
+
+    Now Boreas knew of just one way
+    To cool things off, for every day
+    With mighty power of cheek and lung
+    He blew his soup to save his tongue.
+    And so responding to the King
+    He ’gan to blow like anything.
+
+    The sunshine paled, an icy chill
+    Came over all, and plain and hill
+    Were frosted white; in sound repose
+    The King slept; what is more he froze.
+
+    Still Boreas blew and blew until
+    There was no sound except the shrill
+    Sound of his blowing; all in sight
+    Was silenced by the frosty blight.
+
+    He stopped, lo, all the land was dead;
+    In terror at his deed he fled,
+    Nor stopped for flood nor stick nor stone
+    Until he reached the arctic zone.
+    And there he dwells; alas, we know
+    That he remembers how to blow.
+
+
+
+
+                            HOW IT HAPPENED
+
+
+    Amidst fair gardens long ago
+      Beneath a changing sky,
+    There stood a castle, while below
+      A stream flowed slowly by.
+
+    A goodly man of high degree
+      Lived with his lady there;
+    And time and fate had brought them three
+      Fair sons with joy and care.
+
+    These boys played by the river’s rim;
+      Alas one autumn day
+    It chanced while none was watching him
+      The youngest son at play
+
+    Fell in a deep and muddy pool;
+      The yells that did resound
+    Would make it clear to any fool
+      That someone might be drowned.
+
+    The father grabbed a handy hook
+      And ran his best; before
+    He reached the pool, the colored cook
+      Had brought the boy to shore.
+
+    The father held him downside up,
+      And rolled him round and round;
+    He yelled--joy filled the father’s cup--
+      He couldn’t yell if drowned.
+
+    A joyful spanking, then a bath,
+      Dry clothes; when he came through,
+    Though deeply stirred to rosy wrath,
+      He seemed as good as new.
+
+    The father pondered long--then sent
+      A note to Zeus which said;
+    “In general the government
+      Has had an honest head.
+
+    But ’gainst one thing I now protest;
+      The waters everywhere
+    In north and south and east and west
+      Are left completely bare.”
+
+    Great Zeus had been in politics
+      For years and years and years;
+    His term approached its close, and kicks
+      Like this aroused his fears
+
+    That reelection now might fail.
+      He told Jack Frost to plan
+    Whatever measure might avail
+      To satisfy the man.
+
+    And so Jack Frost invented ice,
+      And spread it clear and thin
+    Upon the waters; this device
+      Kept folks from falling in.
+
+    Alas, he did not dare to go
+      Far in the temperate zone;
+    The warm South Wind, his bitter foe,
+      Might catch him there alone.
+
+    And now when Spring comes back in May,
+      With robins in her train,
+    Jack Frost, the coward, flees away
+      And waits for Winter’s reign.
+
+    The ice without his constant care,
+      Grown thin and weak and brown,
+    Runs off and leaves the water bare,
+      And anyone may drown.
+
+
+
+
+                             THE FIRST MIST
+
+
+    Once Hermes paused in arrowy flight
+    And while he hovered to alight,
+    Beheld a winsome mortal maid;
+    With other maids she danced and played;
+    They all were fair; he thought this one
+    The fairest thing beneath the sun.
+
+    Then Hermes, like a golden gleam,
+    Darted and dropped beside a stream;
+    He called up from the water clear
+    A naiad; in her dripping ear
+    He whispered long and low, while she
+    Nodded and chuckled pleasantly.
+    She waved her hand; he flew away;
+    A mist formed ’round the maids at play.
+    Then flying Hermes did invade
+    The thickening mist and kissed the maid,
+    And flew reluctantly away
+    With sighs and smiles; (for many a day
+    Olympian letters went astray.)
+
+    The other maidens midst the mist,
+    Where they stood silently unkissed,
+    Saw nothing though they heard a sound
+    Like rose leaves falling on the ground.
+    The mist grew thin that had concealed
+    The startled maid; she stood revealed
+    With conscious blush and just below
+    A budding branch of mistletoe.
+
+    And so the whole world came to know
+    Of mist and maids and mistletoe.
+
+
+
+
+                          Transcriber’s Note:
+
+
+Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected in
+this version, but minor inconsistencies and archaic forms have been
+retained as printed.
+
+Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of their
+respective poems in this version.
+
+Two instances of a doubled word has been changed to single:
+
+  In _The Boy and the Basilisk_: the the _to_ the
+
+  In _Why the Sea is Salt_: every every _to_ every
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77672 ***
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+      The Giant and Other Nonsense Verse | Project Gutenberg
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77672 ***</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowe105_0625" id="cover">
+  <img class="w20" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="">
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div>
+<h1>
+The Giant</h1>
+<br><br>
+<p class="center">AND</p>
+<br><br>
+<p class="p5 center"><strong>Other Nonsense Verse</strong></p>
+<br><br>
+
+<p class="center">BY</p>
+<br><br>
+<p class="center">ALBERT W. SMITH</p>
+<br><br>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<p class="center">ANDRUS &amp; CHURCH<br>
+ITHACA, N. Y.<br>
+1910
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div>“The Giant,” the “Arctic Ball,” and “Funnyland,” in slightly different
+form, appeared originally in “The Ladies’ Home Journal,” and thanks are
+due to the editor for his kind permission to include them in this book.
+<br><br>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div>
+<p class="center">
+Copyright, 1910<br>
+by Albert W. Smith.<br>
+<br>
+Copyright, 1911<br>
+by Albert W. Smith.
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div>
+<p class="center"><span class="ornate">
+<i>To</i><br>
+<i>Ruby</i><br>
+<i>Alpheus</i><br>
+<i>Dorothy</i><br>
+<i>and</i><br>
+<i>Ruth.</i></span>
+</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"></div>
+<br><br>
+<p class="center"><strong>Contents:</strong></p><br>
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#THE_GIANT">THE GIANT</a><br>
+<a href="#THE_ARCTIC_BALL">THE ARCTIC BALL</a><br>
+<a href="#A_TROPICAL_AFTERNOON_TEA">A TROPICAL AFTERNOON TEA</a><br>
+<a href="#THE_TIDES">THE TIDES</a><br>
+<a href="#NIGHT_AND_DAY">NIGHT AND DAY</a><br>
+<a href="#FUNNYLAND">FUNNYLAND</a><br>
+<a href="#A_MARSH_LYRIC">A MARSH LYRIC</a><br>
+<a href="#THE_BOY_AND_THE_BASILISK">THE BOY AND THE BASILISK</a><br>
+<a href="#RETRIBUTION">RETRIBUTION</a><br>
+<a href="#WHY_THE_SEA_IS_SALT">WHY THE SEA IS SALT</a><br>
+<a href="#OVERDONE">OVERDONE</a><br>
+<a href="#THE_WEST_WIND">THE WEST WIND</a><br>
+<a href="#THE_NORTH_WIND">THE NORTH WIND</a><br>
+<a href="#HOW_IT_HAPPENED">HOW IT HAPPENED</a><br>
+<a href="#THE_FIRST_MIST">THE FIRST MIST</a><br>
+<a href="#Transcribers_Note">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</a>
+</p>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GIANT">THE GIANT</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There is a Giant in the world</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Whose head is up so high,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He has to get down on his knees</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To look up in the sky.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And when he feels the need of food,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He wades out in the sea</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And fishes out a whale or two</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Just right to fricassee.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Or if he’s near to Hindustan</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He gathers up a few</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Young elephants with jungle brush</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">For oriental stew.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And when he tires of earthly food</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">His diet, as a rule,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Consists of planets roasted well</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And hung outside to cool.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He sends his wife to gather them;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She brings them on a tray;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For cream to make the planet sauce</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She skims the Milky Way.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When Mrs. Giant cooks, the steam</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Floats off across the sky</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In clouds that drop the rain that keeps</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The world from getting dry.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And sometimes when the clouds are dark,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The Giant gets his gun</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And shoots it in their very midst—</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Because he likes the fun.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But when the sky is clear all day,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Without a cloud in sight,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Giant finds his supper cold</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">When he gets home at night.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Whenever Mrs. Giant goes</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To tidy up the room,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She picks a comet ’cause its tail</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Is handy for a broom.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Giant drinks, to quench his thirst,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A whirling water-spout;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He gave up drinking mountain lakes</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Lest he should have the gout.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He puts a forest in his pipe</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">When he’s inclined to smoke,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And lights his match upon the moon;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The moon can’t see the joke!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">I think, my child, were you a moon,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">’Way off in stellar space,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You’d feel put out if anyone</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Scratched matches on your face!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Giant dresses up sometimes</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And goes to take a stroll;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And picks a little bunch of stars</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To deck his buttonhole.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He’s mighty careful which he takes;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He knows the ones to shun;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He burned his fingers badly once</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">By fooling with the Sun.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And once in absent minded mood</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He picked a nettle star;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He ran a-yelling all the way</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">From Rome to Zanzibar!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The islands are his stepping-stones,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The continents his bed;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He slept on Greenland once and caught</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A snuffle in his head.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He slides around the Arctic Pole;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And if he gets a chill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He goes and sits a month or two</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In India or Brazil.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He caught his trousers on Cape Horn</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And tore an awful slit;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He stayed in bed a season while</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">His wife embroidered it;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She fixed it with a patch of sky;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">It didn’t show a bit!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When walking through a mountain land,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He sometimes stubs his toe;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The shock is called an earthquake by</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The frightened folks below.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Our weather only comes about</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Up to the Giant’s knees;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The rest of him sticks up above</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">As pleasant as you please.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">So, when he wants to dust his shoes,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He only has to stand</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A minute in the middle of</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Some handy, windy land.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He saw the men who went to dig</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The Panama Canal.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He slapped his knees and laughed until</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He grew hysterical.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He could have finished that Canal</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With half a dozen kicks;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But he had promised not to get</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Mixed up in politics!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One night a great astronomer,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">While gazing into space,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By chance looked through his telescope</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Right in the Giant’s face.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He thought it was the moon until</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The Giant winked his eye;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The wise man never dared again</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To search the starry sky.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">We never see the Giant, for</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">On seeing us he flies,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Because he feels so ill at ease</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And conscious of his size.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ARCTIC_BALL">THE ARCTIC BALL</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">They gave a ball in the Arctic Zone,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they danced on the frozen sea.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The North-wind blew on a big trombone,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he played tunes that would melt a stone,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But none in a minor key;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For that would melt ice and lower the tone.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Imagine a ball in the Arctic Zone</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On a melting, mushy sea!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">An Arctic ball is a long, long thing,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For it’s dark for six months there.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They dance from Fall till early Spring,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The two-step, waltz and the Highland-fling,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Utterly free from care.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They eat ice-cream that they have to blow</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To cool it off for it burns them so;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they all drink liquified air.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The whalloping whales came floundering through</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A hole in the icy floor;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Seals all came and the Caribou,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The old Musk-ox, and the Reindeer too</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And many many more.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They all joined feet and flippers and fins</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And danced ’round the Pole where the world begins,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With bark and bellow and roar.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When Boreas started an Irish reel</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Reindeer pricked up his ears;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And a thrill ran through him from antler to heel</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of longing to dance that he couldn’t conceal,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Although the most proper of deers.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So they scattered some sand in an open space</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And gave him a hearty call;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he sidestepped out with a rythmical pace,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And danced to the reel with the greatest of grace.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Twas the finest thing at the ball!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">An Iceberg waltzed with the Northern Light;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And she flushed and smiled and said:</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“O, why, dear Berg, so cool tonight?</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You give me a chill and a frosty fright,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Lest I catch a cold in my head.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I’m as warm as I dare to be, my sweet,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With dancing and love of you;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">If I loved you more or should hurry my feet,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">My blood would rise to a fever heat,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Fahrenheit thirty-two.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And then I’d melt and babble away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From a tall iceberg to a big flat bay;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Melted for love of you.”</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Walrus danced with the Polar Bear,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But it wasn’t much for grace;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Their joints were rusty and out of repair:</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But the Bear wore an icicle wreath in her hair,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Walrus a smiling face.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Chaperone said, behind her fan:</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“They’re doing the best they possibly can,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And laughter is out of place!”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The North Pole listened and wondered why</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He felt such a troublesome thrill;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though he stood stock still as they all danced by,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It was sorely against his will.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But if he should move just the wink of an eye,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The world would wabble and things would fly</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the oceans would surely spill.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So he heaved a sigh and took a brace</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And held himself in his proper place,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And “the old world wags on still.”</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_TROPICAL_AFTERNOON_TEA">A TROPICAL AFTERNOON TEA</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One afternoon when a mild monsoon</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Blew over the tropical sea,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On the ocean strand of a sandy land</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They gave a Tropical Tea.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, who could foresee</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">All the beasts there would be at a Tropical Tea?</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In a monsoony land,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a Tropical Band.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, who could foresee?</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Every lady beast attended the feast</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With the lady birds so fair;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But the Whale and the Eel were sure they would feel</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Quite out of their element there.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, think of an Eel!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a squirming disgust that she couldn’t conceal!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Nothing wet but the tea,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Far away from the sea.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, think of the Eel!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A truce for the day kept the beasts of prey</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From eating a handy guest;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So the Tiger was there and the timid Hare,—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though the Hare wasn’t quite at her best.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, if the Hare wasn’t scared!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She would have gone lippetty home if she’d dared.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But she gave up the flight</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And kept well out of sight.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, wasn’t she scared!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Zebra sneered when the Leopard appeared,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And said with a satisfied smile:</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“In France they would not wear a dress with a spot</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And stripes are the latest style.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, surely the Zebra forgot</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">That the Leopard’s unable to alter a spot;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Her critical tone</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She’d have dropped if she’d known.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She surely forgot!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Ostrich was dressed in her very best</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With plumy wings outspread;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But the Paradise Bird said: “How absurd!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She hasn’t a plume for her head!”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, it wasn’t polite!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The Ostrich felt sure that she looked like a fright.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She covered her head</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In a handy sand-bed</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Quite out of their sight.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Chimpanzee sipped oolong tea</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And simpered and nibbled a sweet;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Boa-constrictor would fain have kicked her,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But she hadn’t the requisite feet.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, she wasn’t complete!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A twenty foot Boa without any feet;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">If she’d had twenty three</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">What a kicker she’d be!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">She wasn’t complete!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">An Orang-outang came out and sang</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Unembarrassed by the throng;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they cried encore with a terrible roar</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To her tropical, topical song.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Song</span>:</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In the jungle dim and dusky,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A monkey lithe and husky</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was hanging by his long prehensile tail;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When he heard two men, preparing</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">An iron cage, declaring</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That they’d learn the monkey lingo without fail.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, wasn’t it fun!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He unhooked his tail and he started to run;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Every simian friend</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To the dim jungle’s end</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He told of the fun!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When at night the men were waiting</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Safe behind the iron grating,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The monkeys came in crowds from every way,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And although it was exciting,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Yet the men inside were writing</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All the things they thought they heard the monkeys say.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, this is a lark!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Two men writing monkey talk down in the dark;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">If they only could know</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">What we’re saying, O, O,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Then ’twould be a lark!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">An Elephant rose with a cold in her nose</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And she thought she would sing like a bird;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But the song went astray on the wearisome way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Through her trunk, and it never was heard.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, she felt like a goose;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a song in her soul that she couldn’t turn loose;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">How she twisted and blew!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But it couldn’t get through.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, what was the use!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A Crocodile with an afternoon smile</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Sang a song that made them quail.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Her mouth opened wide and the sight inside</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Gave point to her musical tale.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Song</span>:</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A yacht came sailing up the Nile,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Sail away, sail away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the sight made every crocodile smile;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Smile away, smile away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With a bubbly wake, through foam and spray,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Through Egypt’s land, it sailed away.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Alack-a-day!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Sphinx was smiling all the while,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Smile away, smile away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">As the yacht came sailing up the Nile;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Sail away, sail away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And she asked them a riddle that none could guess</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So she swamped the yacht in a wink or less.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Alack-a-day!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Not a single person came to land;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Alack-a-day! Alack-a-day!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But crocodiles on every hand,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Smile away, smile away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Said; “O, we wish that every day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A yacht would happen along this way!”</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Alack-a-day!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And everyone stayed till the twilight shade</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Dimmed the tropical afternoon.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they all went away through the fading day,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By the moon through the mild Monsoon.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent2">O, O, it was a lark!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They gossipped and stayed till the edge of the dark.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And some were afraid</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And were sorry they’d stayed.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, wasn’t it dark!</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_TIDES">THE TIDES</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The ocean had, in days of yore,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A very dirty, mussy shore</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From Newfoundland to Singapore.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When mermaids wished to go to land,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To sit and sing upon the strand,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They had to flop through slimy sand.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When Neptune saw this, it befell,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He took his dolphin team and shell</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And sped away across the swell.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He went to every sea and bay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And gave his orders all the way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From Greenland’s rim to far Cathay;—</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And now the tides rise up and roar,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And twice a day they wash the shore</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From Newfoundland to Singapore;</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And beaches lie all clean and fair,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Where mermaids sing and take the air</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With tidy tails and streaming hair.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="NIGHT_AND_DAY">NIGHT AND DAY</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Before Time started on his way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There was no changing night and day;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The sun stood still above Bombay.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And Bombay people had to hear</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The constant clanging far and near</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of bells that called to noonday cheer.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">They ate continuously, for when</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They finished their dessert, why then</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They started off with soup again.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One eats with pleasure and a jest</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With time between meals to digest;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But constant eating spoils the zest.</div></div>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">About three thousand miles away</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In all directions from Bombay</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It was forever early day;</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And people worked with might and main</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Hoping for dinner time and fain</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For night and rest, but all in vain.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A sandwich snatched, a wedge of pie,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A cat-nap stolen on the sly,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">These were the only reasons why,</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Since they could neither rest or play,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They didn’t stop in sheer dismay</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And starve, dry up and blow away.</div></div>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And further on for many a mile</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The dawn held sway with rosy smile,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And yawning folks dressed all the while.</div></div>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The rest of earth was brooded o’er</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By endless night, and one grand snore</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Swelled loud and long from shore to shore.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And folks would wake with start and sigh</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And rub their eyes and wonder why</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Dawn never tinged the eastern sky.<span class="fnanchor" id="fna1"><a href="#fn1">[1]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The moon and stars were wan and pale</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From overwork, the nightingale</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Could only croak and hoarsely wail.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But ghosts might range abroad at will</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Fearless of dawn and cock-crow shrill,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And waken folks with awful thrill.</div></div>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Now Phoebus driving in his car</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With winged steeds from star to star,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Passed by the earth and from afar</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Beheld the weary human race;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He checked his horses for a space</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And pondered with a serious face;</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Then put his horses to the run</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And when a long swift course was done</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He hitched his wagon to the sun.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Since then the dusky night alway</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Around the world has chased the day;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And we can work and rest and play.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="footnote" id="fn1"><a href="#fna1">[1]</a><br>
+
+Some critic now will surely say:—<br>
+“How could they think of dawn when they<br>
+Had never been where it was day?”<br>
+<br><br>
+
+Their shiftless forbears may have pined<br>
+In dawn-land, and with debts behind<br>
+Have gone where they were hard to find.<br><br>
+
+So, gentle critic, be content.<br>
+This hope of dawn was surely sent<br>
+By atavistic accident.<br><br></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="FUNNYLAND">FUNNYLAND</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There’s an island ’way off in the seas</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Where the babies all grow upon trees.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">It’s the jolliest fun</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To swing in the sun;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But they have to look out how they sneeze,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">O, I tell you they’d better not sneeze!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They might break themselves off</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a sneeze or a cough</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And tumble down flop on their knees.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When the clouds darken mountain and dale,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When the breeze freshens up to a gale,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">There is screaming and dropping</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And laughing and hopping;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In fact little babies just hail.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They all lie on the ground in a pile,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And when people come, after a while,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They quickly pass by</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The babies that cry,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they pick up the babies that smile;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">O, they even take twins if they smile!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There’s a tree where the kitty-cats grow.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They hang by their tails in a row;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">If they happen to fall,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They don’t mind it at all,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For they fall on their feet as you know.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There once was a puppy-dog tree</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That people came miles just to see.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But the bark was so loud</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">That it scattered the crowd</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And rattled the isles of the sea;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">It frightened the King,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And the troublesome thing</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was cut down by a royal decree.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Whenever dogs grow now at all,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They are puggy and snarly and small;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They grow on a vine</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Like a squash, and they whine</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Although they can’t possibly fall.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Wherever an elephant grows,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He’s always hitched on by his nose;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And he just has to wait</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Till his weight is so great</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That his nose is stretched out to a hose;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That accounts for his rubbery nose.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And sometimes, when something is wrong,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The elephant hitch is so strong</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">That he fails to get free</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">From the elephant tree</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Till his nose is a hundred feet long.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">So he buys a hose-cart</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To trundle a part</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of his nose as he lumbers along.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Any sensible person should know</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">How giraffes are hitched on when they grow.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Their necks elongate</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With increase of their weight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Till their feet touch the ground and they go.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When first a young donkey appears,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He hangs from the limb by his ears;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And he hangs till the day</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">When he first tries to bray—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">O, the tree shakes him off when it hears!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he runs away wagging his ears.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The birdies swim ’round in the sea,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With the wasp and the bungleing bee.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">If you dangle a worm,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a wiggley squirm,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You might catch a chick-a-dee-dee.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The fishes swim ’round in the sky,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With pollywogs woggleing by,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">While frogs hop around</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">On the clouds to the sound</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of the song of the lobsters that fly.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A wonderful Funnyland sight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Is a mountain of very great height;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But you never could guess</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">What happens unless</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You should be there on Saturday night.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When the sun in the west is aglow</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The whole mountain rumbles, and lo,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">It pours out a stream</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Of assorted ice-cream</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By the banks where the macaroons grow.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then from city and country and town,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The children, of king and of clown,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">All run with their spoons</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And they pick macaroons</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they eat till they have to lie down.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But the thing that the children adore,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Is a mountain that stands by the shore,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a cratery pot</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Where molasses keeps hot</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With trickles of taffy galore.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Sometimes it rains pop-corn at night;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And all of the kernels that light</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">On the mountain-top, pop,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And they hop, and they drop,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Till the top of the mountain is white;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And corn balls roll down</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To the edge of the town,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">While the children dance ’round with delight.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There’s a spring hidden deep in a glade,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of most excellent pink lemonade.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">It falls in a pool</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">All bubbly cool</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From a babbling and brawling cascade;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the children, each summery day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When they’re thirsty with rollicking play,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Go there and dip up</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Lemonade in a cup</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And drink till their buttons give ’way.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When Funnyland children have chills</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And fever, or colicky ills,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They are not put to bed</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To be poulticed and fed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On gruel and puckery pills.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When the Doctor comes in to advise,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He says, as he scowls and looks wise:</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">“You’ve been eating brown bread</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And potatoes instead</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of good wholesome candies and pies.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">I can tell by the look in your eye</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That you’ve kept your feet constantly dry.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">For a lassie or lad</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">It is best to be bad,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Don’t even be good on the sly.”</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Funnyland clerk of the weather</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Doesn’t waste his time finding out whether</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Tomorrow’ll be blowy</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Or sunny or snowy;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">O, he’s wiser than that altogether.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He carefully studies the past</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And runs up a flag on a mast,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">So that people can see</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">If there’s going to be</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A thunder storm week before last.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The hunters go forth to the lair</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of the Tiger with crimps in his hair.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And peppery snuff</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Is the terrible stuff</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That they shoot at the blundering Bear.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For lo, when they happen to spy</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The bears that go wandering by,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They shoot off their gun</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And, although the bears run,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They sneeze off their heads and they die.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But they never go hunting this way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For the Tiboons that live in the bay;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">When they sneeze, O, the sound</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Cracks the air, and the ground</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Wabbles ’round in a terrible way.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">So the King’s Grenadiers,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With wool in their ears,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Stand always in warlike array</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">On the edge of the sand</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With a fan in each hand</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To keep tickley dust from the bay;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">So the Tiboons won’t sneeze</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Shaking surf from the seas</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And rattling the islands away.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The King goes forth daily at noon,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To parade with the knights of the moon;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And he’s grandly arrayed</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In clothes that are made</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From the skin of a raging Tiboon;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A roaring and ramping Tiboon.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There was only one man in the isles</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Who was wily enough with his wiles</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To capture this beast,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">So that people could feast</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the King could keep up with the styles.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He stealthily crept to the bay</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">While the little Tiboons were at play,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And their parents were drowsing</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Or quietly browsing.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(They can’t rage the whole of the day!)</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The man waded quietly near</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To the biggest Tiboon, from the rear,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And he tied a tin pail</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To the end of his tail;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">O, the Tiboon went crazy with fear;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His raging was awful to hear.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But he finally died</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Of a twisted inside,—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Thus ended his ramping career.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The soldiers are never afraid</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To march in a long cavalcade</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To His Majesty’s park</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To shoot at a mark</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Or take part in a deadly parade;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A boom-ta-rah-rahing parade.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">When the band blows a blare</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To crack open the air,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">O, the soldiers are never afraid.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For years, through the King’s oversight,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They had never been called out to fight;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And they thirsted for gore,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">(Other people’s) and swore</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That they languished to fight for the right.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One day the King happened to spy</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A ship sailing by in the sky;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And, I grieve to relate,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Made a face at the Mate,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Mate was insulted thereby;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In fact “he had blood in his eye.”</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">So he signalled the Chief Engineer</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To check the ship’s raging career,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And the anchor dropped down</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And caught on the Town,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">While the children all trembled with fear,—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A lovely, blood-curdling fear!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then the best parachute was prepared,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Mate, while the people all stared,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Came zigzagging down</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In the midst of the town;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But the King didn’t look a bit scared.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(Though I think that he would if he’d dared.)</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The face of the furious Mate</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was covered with whiskers and hate;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">“The people,” said he,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">“Who make faces at me</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All meet with a horrible fate,—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A midnighty, church-yardy fate.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Surrender your Funnyland isle!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Surrender your treasury pile!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Surrender to me!”</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But the King said, said he,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Excuse me dear Sir, if I smile!”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(O, his smile could be seen for a mile!)</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When the speaking and smiling were done</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The army came up at a run.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, the Mate was alarmed,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">For each soldier was armed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With a kind of sky-rocketty gun.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They drew up in battle array</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All loaded and primed for the fray.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">O, the racket was dire</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">At the order to fire,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the Mate—why he fainted away.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(’Twas the one way of getting away.)</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then there came a most terrible crash,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Such as big things make, going to smash;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">For the ship struck the ground,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And the air all around</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was filled up with splinters and trash,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Dust, kindling-wood, oakum and hash.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(The Captain and crew were the hash.)</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Mate knew his chances were slim,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But he never suspected how grim</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Was his oncoming fate.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He was destined to wait</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On the King who’d made faces at him,—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Disrespectful, wry faces at him!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">If you ever should sail in the air</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">As mate of a ship, O, beware!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">If a King in full view</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Should make faces at you,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Don’t suffer your anger to flare;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Remember this tragic affair!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Funnyland chimneys are all</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So large and exceedingly tall,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">That Santa Claus shook</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In his shoes when he took</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A look at the distance to fall;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Then he altered his plan</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Like a wise little man</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And didn’t climb chimneys at all.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But in dooryards of every degree</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He planted a curious tree;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And now every year</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">When Christmas is near</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The fruit is a wonder to see.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There are dollies and trolleys and rows</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of silky and satiny clothes;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And candles and strings</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Of tinsel, and rings</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For the fingers and bells for the toes.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">There are serpents and sugary hearts;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Tin soldiers and cinnamon tarts;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">While bicycles grow</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">On the branches below</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With wagons and wabbly carts.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There are ducks that you squeeze and they squawk;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And green polly-parrots that talk;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And filberts and figs,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And cottony pigs</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That you pull by a string and they walk.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On Christmas Eve children go out</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To the Santa Claus tree with a shout,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And put baskets below</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The things that they know</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That they couldn’t be happy without.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Then Santa Claus comes in the night</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When there isn’t a person in sight;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And he chuckles with glee</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">As he climbs every tree</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And shakes it with all of his might.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Things rustle and rattle and flop,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And loosen and tumble and drop,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Till the children awake</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With the noise that they make</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the baskets are full to the top.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Just think of the wide-open eyes</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of children awaiting surprise!</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They tumble and twist</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And sit up and insist</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That the sun has forgotten to rise.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then all, when the windows grow gray,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Run out in their bedtime array,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And the frolic begins;—</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They would like to be twins</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To double the joy of the day.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When slanting moonbeams touch the hills,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And shadows fill the glen;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When people all are fast asleep,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The little maids and men</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From Fairyland come sliding down</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The moonbeams in a row,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With tuneful laugh and merry jest</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And faces all aglow;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">As children in the winter lands</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Toboggan on the snow.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The moonlight gleams on gauzy wings</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And glints from precious stones;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And caps are crowned with little bells</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With silvery tinkling tones,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Each Fairy wears a cob-web dress,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And through this filmy guise</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The mischief shows in every move</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And sparkles in their eyes.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And some with bags of happy dreams</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Go softly stealing where</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The island children lie asleep,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And while they’re unaware</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Untie the bags, and lo, the doors</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Of wonderland stand wide!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">I hope, my child, you’ve been sometimes</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Where dream-bags were untied.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The crooked gnomes, with peaked hats</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And faces ill to see,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Come swiftly riding night-mares too,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And with an elfish glee</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They gallop over children who</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Ate fruitcake after tea.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">I hope, my child, you do not know</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">About the things they see.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One fairy stole a pepper-box</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And flew above the bay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And scattered clouds of pepper where</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The sleeping Tiboons lay.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Tiboons sneezed, the islands shook,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And chimneys tumbled down.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The people thought a foe had come</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To cannonade the town.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King got up and trembled so</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He joggled off his crown.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">My child, if Tiboons chance to live</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In any neighboring bay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You’d better lock the pepper up</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Whenever you’re away.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One night with fairy mandolins</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They played such ’witching strains,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A kind of dancing madness ran</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Through every hearer’s veins;</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span><div class="verse indent0">The players passed the Palace Gate;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The King and Queen and all</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The people of the household came</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A-dancing through the hall.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They hadn’t time to don their dress</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Who heard the music’s call.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They danced the streets, and all who heard</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The music lilt along,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Came tripping lightly at the sound</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To join the merry throng;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Till all the people in the isle,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In sleeping clothes arrayed,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Were dancing in the moonlight night</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In motley masquerade.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They danced and whirled beside the bay</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Where Tiboons by the score,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Who’d heard the merry mandolins,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Were skipping on the shore.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">One Tiboon gave his flipper to</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">His Majesty the King,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And there together on the sand</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">They “cut a pigeon-wing.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Fairies laughed until they cried,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">’Twas such a funny thing!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">At dawn the Fairies flew away;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The dancing stopped—ah me!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The weariness and burning shame</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Were very sad to see.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A sort of Sunday quiet filled</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The isle from shore to shore;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But Fairyland resounded with</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A most hilarious roar.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">My child, when slanting moonbeams fall</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Around your house, beware,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Lest Fairies with their mandolins</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Should catch you unaware.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_MARSH_LYRIC">A MARSH LYRIC</h2></div>
+<br>
+<p class="center">With humble apologies to the Shade of Edward Lear.</p>
+<br><br>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He went to hunt on the marsh, he did;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A middle-aged man was he;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In spite of all his friends could say,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On a foggy morn of a Winter’s day</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To the mushy marsh went he.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And everyone said who saw him go;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“O, he’ll surely stick in the slough below,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For the mud is deep and the tide is strong</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And happen what may it’s extremely wrong</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">For a man of forty three.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent4">Slime and slough, slime and slough,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;</div>
+<div class="verse indent4">Their heads are green and their bills are blue</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">But there wasn’t a duck for him!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The water came into his boots, it did;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The water and mud came in;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But he called aloud, “My boots will do</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To hold my feet and the water too,”</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">As he held his chattering chin.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he found a fish and a soft-shell clam</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he said: “How extremely wise I am;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though the marsh is broad and the sloughs are long,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">I shall never think I was rash or wrong</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To come where the fog blows in.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent4">Slime and slough, slime and slough,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;</div>
+<div class="verse indent4">Their heads are green and their bills are blue</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">But there wasn’t a duck for him!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He went to the shore of the bay, he did</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To the shore where the tules grow;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he shot at a hawk and a brown marsh-owl,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And a rail and a teal and a feathery fowl</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Whose name he didn’t know.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He shot at a snipe and a wild goose gray,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And a spoonbill duck that didn’t stay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And a fat mud-hen and a butter-ball;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he shot three times at a heron tall,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And a pelican big and slow.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent4">Slime and slough, slime and slough,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;</div>
+<div class="verse indent4">Their heads are green and their bills are blue</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">But there wasn’t a duck for him!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The birds all laughed out loud, they did;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To see the hunter there;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they said: “It’s just no end of fun</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When a middle-aged man with a great big gun</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Shoots ragged holes in the air.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the wild gray goose kept laughing till</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The tears in streams ran down his bill;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For there’s fun so funny, the ducks agree</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That even the biggest goose can see;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But the hunter was unaware.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent4">Slime and slough, slime and slough,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;</div>
+<div class="verse indent4">Their heads are green and their bills are blue</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">But there wasn’t a duck for him!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Toward night the man came back, he did,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With movements sad and slow.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And they said: “He’s been to the briny bay;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he wasn’t drowned in the usual way;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">But he hasn’t a bird to show.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They gave him toast and some tule tea,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And drank long life that they couldn’t foresee;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And everyone said: “Some other day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">We too will hunt by the foggy bay</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Where the slimy sloughs o’erflow.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent4">Slime and slough, slime and slough,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">In the marsh where the wild ducks swim;</div>
+<div class="verse indent4">Their heads are green and their bills are blue</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">But there wasn’t a duck for him!</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BOY_AND_THE_BASILISK">THE BOY AND THE BASILISK</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Of all the fearsome, ugly things</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With arms or legs or fins or wings,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That haunt the earth or seas or skies,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Basilisk with fiery eyes</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For fearsomeness took every prize.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His home, within a barren glen,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was shunned by beasts and birds and men.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It didn’t matter; what cared he</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For senseless sociability.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Daily the Basilisk would take</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A trip down to a boiling lake</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of brimstone which he drank until</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He had to crawl with care or spill.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He thought hot brimstone just the thing</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With small blue flames for garnishing.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He swallowed it without a wink;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It served him both for food and drink.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then stretched upon the blistering shore</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He slept, and lo, a sulphurous snore</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Resounded loud and long and slow</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From Zululand to Borneo.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">None knew who heard this fearsome roar</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of what the future held in store.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">When in his most goodnatured mood,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He basked content and filled with food,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His mildest glance would kill a tree,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Or split a rock or boil the sea.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Twere wisdom then to shun his path</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">If he were roused to righteous wrath.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Imp who kept the boiling lake</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Supplied with sulphur, by mistake</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Sent all the stock another way;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The surface settled every day;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And then—the lake went wholly dry.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It was a fearful hungry cry</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With which, in no placating mood,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Basilisk set out for food.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">With anxious haste he left the glen</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And sought the homes of beasts and men;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For, lacking brimstone, he could stand</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Most any food that came to hand.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In fact he could, as you can guess,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Stand anything but emptyness.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For forty feet to left and right</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He blasted everything in sight.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He spied upon a distant steep</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A peaceful flock of grazing sheep.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He hustled up, this monster grim,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For mutton was the meat for him!</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">As he approached with hungry gaze,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Each sheep burned up with sulphurous blaze;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And coming to the place he found</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Just piles of ashes on the ground.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Now when a monster seeking food</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Finds ashes, the resulting mood</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Is apt to be a thing to dread;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In fact he turned a fiery red.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He would have turned white hot but he</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Feared burning up spontaneously.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He could have raged and gnashed his jaws;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He could have scratched with all his claws;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He had a long and mighty tail,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He could have lashed it like a flail.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">What was the use, no thing in sight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was left whereon to vent his spite.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Why should he make a grand-stand play</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With grand-stands all so far away?</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Basilisk was not too dense</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To temper rage with common sense.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He reasoned thus: “Since I destroy</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By gazing, things I’d fain enjoy,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The one conclusion that I find</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Is—I must starve or go it blind.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He shut his eyelids with a snap</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And started out across the map.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He gobbled here a flock of sheep,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And there he found some cows asleep.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By working overtime he could</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Obtain a modest livlihood.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Sometimes he made a meal of men,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He could get on with eight or ten.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A load of wheat, a bale of hay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A bunch of bushes by the way,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All these sufficed to partly fill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The need of his digestive mill.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Sometimes when hunger would abate</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From fullness, he would meditate;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And burning curiosity</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Would fill his bosom full, for he</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was fain to see the landscape where</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He sought his humble daily fare.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But when he chanced to crack his eye</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All things in sight would blaze and fry;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And thus he failed of his desire</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To see the country free from fire.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And also, when he tried to see,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">No man in range had time to flee.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Perhaps ’twere better just to burn</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And have one’s ashes in an urn,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Than to be gobbled up and risk</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">One’s self inside the Basilisk.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">This Monster with his hungry wrath</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Left death and ruin in his path;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And as he went on pasturing,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He neared the palace of the King.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King had heard how, far away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Basilisk made disarray</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By skuffing up the landscape’s face</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And swallowing the populace.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">If this continued, it was plain</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He’d have no reason left to reign.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though far above the common mob,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He didn’t like to lose his job.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Twas now a far more serious thing,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The populace might lose their King!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So he sent out a hurry call;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Council hustled to the hall,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And talked and talked and talked some more;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And then—a Basiliskian roar</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Reverberated near and far;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It made the palace windows jar!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then silence fell and everyone</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Forgot to talk and wished to run.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(’Tis hoped the reader won’t mind this</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Irrelevant parenthesis.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Each King or Queen or Potentate</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Or man who runs a town or state,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Should have a Basilisk to stalk</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Around the place for stopping talk.)</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Responding to the King’s command,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A man whose voice could drown a band,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Came up and stood before <ins id='cor_045'>the</ins> throne.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King passed out his megaphone</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And said: “Go forth by every way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Unto my kingdom’s bound and say,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">‘Hear ye, hear ye, the King declares</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That he who kills this beast or scares</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His hungry ugliness away</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To lands where he’ll be sure to stay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Shall be a knight and have a key</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That fits the royal treasury.’”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The man went forth straightway and tried</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His voice upon the countryside.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Basilisk, in great surprise,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Woke up and almost blinked his eyes;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He wished so much to see who kept</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">This racket going while he slept.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">At last before he noticed it,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His eyelids opened just a slit;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A little blaze, a little whir—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King had lost his messenger!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Alas the day!” bewailed the King,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I see my finish in this thing.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Council can convene no more</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For fear the Basilisk may roar.</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span><div class="verse indent0">The soldiers are of no avail;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You can’t expect them not to quail</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When thinking of the awful risk</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In war against the Basilisk.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Just then, a half grown Boy alone</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Came in and walked up to the throne,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And said: “Your Majesty, I heard</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Your proclamation. I am stirred</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To undertake to overwhelm</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The beast that now despoils the realm.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King considered for a while</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And raised his hand to hide a smile.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But though His Royal Highness smiled,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Most any plan however wild,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Seemed in this dire emergency</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Worth trying; therefore a decree</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Went forth at once to authorize</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">This Boy’s unusual enterprise.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Farewell, my Boy,” called out the King,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“And may you overcome the thing!”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Prepare” said he, “a burial urn</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To hold this youth on his return.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The Boy took neither bow nor spear,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Nor any other warlike gear.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A basket, broom and tin dustpan</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Were carried by a serving man.</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span><div class="verse indent0">Two others carried on before</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A mirror large as any door.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Thus they went forth along the way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Frequented by this beast of prey.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With mirror set and polished clear,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The party waited in the rear.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Monster came; they could not see,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But hearing made them wish to flee.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He blindly stumbled up before</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The mirror; then he heard a roar;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He stopped; his eyelids slowly raised;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His eyes, uncovered, fairly blazed;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He saw himself; he winked—too late!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His mirrored glance had sealed his fate.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A great black smoke, a flame, a boom,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Some ashes swept up with a broom!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The fearsome Basilisk had died,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Against his will, by suicide.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His ashes occupied the urn</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Prepared against the Boy’s return.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And when the Boy grew up he chose</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Princess for his bride and rose</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To occupy the throne in state</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When Basilisks were out of date.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="RETRIBUTION">RETRIBUTION</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Cupid tired of the twang</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Of his bow-string said;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I will try a boomerang</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">In the arrow’s stead.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Pliant to his cunning art</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Far the weapon whirled;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Touched a throbbing human heart;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Changed its little world.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Boomerangs come back, and this</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Hit the careless elf;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Lo, into love’s baleful bliss</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Cupid fell himself.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="WHY_THE_SEA_IS_SALT">WHY THE SEA IS SALT</h2></div>
+<br><p class="center">
+AN OLD STORY.
+<br>
+Long ago the water was fresh that now is salt in the seven seas.
+</p><br><br>
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Once on a time upon a moor</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There lived a man who grew so poor</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That though he toiled with all his might</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From early morn till late at night,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He found it harder <ins id='cor_049'>every</ins> day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To keep the hunger wolf away.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">One Christmas eve in deep despair</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He found the cupboards all were bare.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His wife and children hungry-eyed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Their dumb reproaches strove to hide;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But all in vain, their deep distress</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Caused him to groan in helplessness.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All hopelessly he turned about</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To seek what fate might hand him out.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">His old godmother years ago</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Had helped him when his funds were low;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But she had been for many a day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Godmothering so far away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That thoughtlessly she’d failed to heed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">This godson’s present, direful need.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But now by chance with beaming smile</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She met him e’er he’d gone a mile.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">She said, “Come, shorten up your face;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The world’s a very pleasant place!”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Alas, her cheer could not avail;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He told her all his woeful tale.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She brought out from her ample cloak</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A side of bacon brown with smoke,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And said, “Take this and keep on straight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Until you reach an iron gate;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It is the gate of hell—repress</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Your tendency to nervousness,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Devil never would admit</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A man like you into the pit;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But with the bacon you can go</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Into the anteroom of woe.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Now everybody knows full well</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That bacon’s very scarce in hell;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And any of the Devil’s kind</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Would sell his soul for bacon rind.<span class="fnanchor" id="fna2"><a href="#fn2">[2]</a></span></div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Just look behind the entrance door;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You’ll see a mill upon the floor.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Don’t come away from there until</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">You trade that bacon for the mill.”</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And so it happened in detail;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The man’s persistence did prevail;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He took the mill with him, while hell</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was filled with frying bacon smell.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The man’s godmother made him stay</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A minute on his homeward way,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That he might gain the needed skill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To operate the magic mill.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With hands above the mill outspread</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She bade him listen well and said:—</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent6">“Grind, mill grind</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">The thing that’s in my mind;</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">Grind, mill grind.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Round went the mill, a “coach and four”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Stood ready with an open door.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent6">“Stay, mill stay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">No more I pray,</div>
+<div class="verse indent6">Stay, mill stay.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">So said the dame; and lo, the mill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Stopped instantly and stood stock still.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(Imagine how ’twould be today</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">If she had let it grind away!)</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The man turned round with thankful pride</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To ask the dame to have a ride;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But she had vanished; with a thrill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He lifted up the precious mill,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Stepped in the coach and banged the door</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">As if he’d done it oft before.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(He took with grace, like you or me,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">An unaccustomed luxury.)</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He reached his home and bolted in;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The mill ground with a merry din,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A table, chairs, and linen laid</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">By butler and a serving maid;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A shining set of silver plate,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And food and drink enough to sate</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A hungry family, and then—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The mill was asked to grind again.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Twas Christmas eve and all with glee</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Asked of the mill a Christmas tree.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Then for each happy, weary head</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It ground a grateful downy bed;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And then, ah me, such restful sleep!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For sweet and pleasant dreams too deep.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But one small daughter woke in fright,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(I’m sure her supper wasn’t light.)</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And while she lay there scared and still,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She said the rhyme to start the mill.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Now nightmares of most every kind</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Just then filled up her little mind.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The mill began and from its spout</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Assorted nightmares galloped out.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They kept on coming out until</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The father woke and stopped the mill.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Alas, the nightmares still were there,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Neighing and stamping everywhere.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The man called on the mill to grind</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A driver of the nightmare kind;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And when one came he stopped the mill.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The driver drove the nightmares till</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There wasn’t one that you could find;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And as he followed on behind</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He cracked his whip with leathern thong</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And drove them back where they belong.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So quiet was restored and then</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They all went back to sleep again.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The next day saw a busy mill;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It ground a mansion on a hill,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With all things else they could require</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To make the land of heart’s desire.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Then, since the man was wise, behold,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It ground the cellars full of gold.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And then the mill was put away</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And never turned for many a day.</div></div>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A Captain of a freighting ship,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Who sailed with salt, trip after trip,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Heard of the magic mill; said he,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I’d never have to sail the sea</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">If I could get that mill, ah well,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">I’ll ask the man if he will sell.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I’d never sell the mill,” said he,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I’ll give it to you willingly.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Captain scarce could trust his ears;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For he had had the gravest fears</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That mills like this would come so high</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That he could never hope to buy.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In haste he took the mill away;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He feared that if he made delay</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The man might chance to change his mind.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He’d learned the rhyme to make it grind,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But his mad haste would not permit</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His learning how to make it quit.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He reached the ship and sailed away;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And when they passed beyond the bay</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span><div class="verse indent0">He set the mill—the story’s told—</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Where hatches opened to the hold.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then said the rhyme to make it grind</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">While only salt was in his mind.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The salt streamed forth, the Captain smiled;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Not very long was he beguiled;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The hold was filled up to the top;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The Captain told the mill to stop.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It ground right on without a check;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The salt was piling on the deck.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His sword in anger then he drew</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And cut the fiendish thing in two.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Each half kept grinding more and more;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The salt came faster than before.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It sank the ship and all were drowned;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But still the mill keeps turning ’round</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And grinding salt; so that must be</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The way the salt came in the sea.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="footnote" id="fn2"><a href="#fna2">[2]</a><br>The critics here will stop and tell<br>
+How devils haven’t souls to sell.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="OVERDONE">OVERDONE</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Time was old and on his way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Slowly toiled; it seemed the day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Ne’er would end; it seemed the Sun</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Crawled the course he used to run.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But Love came, and when I showed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">How Time lagged, he took a goad,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With its sharpened point of steel</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Touched old Time upon his heel.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The laggard urged the tardy Sun</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And like a boy began to run.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Stay, old Time, I pray thee stay!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Why this haste? Why make the day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">All too short? Why make the Sun</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Fly the course he used to run?</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_WEST_WIND">THE WEST WIND</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The King and Queen of the Esquimaux</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Came forth from the royal palace to go</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">On a ringing sledge with a great dog team</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">’Neath the clear still stars and the fitful gleam</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of the northern lights, on a long night ride</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To the Pole and back, for the Queen was a bride,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And this was their wedding tour, heigh-ho!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For the ride of the royal Esquimaux!</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The King was proud and the Queen was fair,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though you wouldn’t have known it had you been there;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For they wore white fur from top to toe,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And you couldn’t tell t’other from which although</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King felt taller, though ’twas hard to see,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">While the Queen was taller—horizontally.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">At any rate when ready to ride</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King couldn’t reach round his royal bride.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The dogs were eager, they set them free;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They flew over snow and the frozen sea;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And the breath of the dogs and the King and Queen</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Like little plumes in the cold so keen</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Turned to frosty flakes that twinkled bright.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The rosy glow from the northern light</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Grew pale and wan in the snapping cold;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But the dogs raced on for the King was bold.</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span><div class="verse indent0">On the cold white earth, ’neath the cold, cold sky</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">From the frozen sea to the glaciers high,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There wasn’t a living, breathing thing</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Save the racing dogs and the Queen and King.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The cooling Queen, in esquimau,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Said, “Dear, how far are we to go?”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King’s teeth chattered but he managed to say,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“I have vowed on this our wedding day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To show my bride how the world turns ’round,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And so, my dearest, we are bound</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For the cold north pole—” I regret to say</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That she broke in here in a certain way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That isn’t confined, as some folks know,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To the land of ice and the Esquimaux.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Of course,” said she, “I’d love to go</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To the ends of the earth with you, but O,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">I would never dare to go in sight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of the old north pole on such a night.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Now the King was young and the King was bold,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And also newly married, behold!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He cracked his whip; with right good will</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The dogs flew northward faster still.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But though this was his wedding day,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King expected the Queen to say</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span><div class="verse indent0">A word or two of protest—no,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Not a word was heard from her although</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Against her will she was hurried away;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So he turned—imagine his deep dismay,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She was white and still and frozen, alack!</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King saw why she didn’t talk back.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Now whatever the King was, he wasn’t slow;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He yelled the esquimau word for “whoa.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They stopped and turned and the cracking whip</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Urged the dogs due south at a good round clip.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Said the King, “O, Zephyrus, come and blow,”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">(He was talking still in esquimau)</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“Blow north; I know that you like best</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To fan warm lands from the warm, far west,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">But just for once do come and blow</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And melt Jack Frost, my family foe;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And thaw my Queen, it’s surely plain</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That a frozen Queen can’t help me to reign!”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And Zephyrus heard and softly blew,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And Jack Frost heard the sound and knew</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The time had come for him to flee;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And he fled far north to the frozen sea.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The stars grew soft and the floating frost</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was turned to mist, and the Queen had lost</div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span><div class="verse indent0">Her death-like pallor; a pink flush rose</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To her cheeks and—alas—to her little flat nose.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Her eyelids fluttered and opened and then</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She began the unfinished discussion again.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She looked at the King and said, “I’m bound</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That I never shall see how the world turns round.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And she didn’t. The King from that day forth</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When he took her to drive never dared to turn north.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Alas, when they came to their palace of ice,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They found it a puddle that didn’t look nice;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">For well-meaning Zephyrus just didn’t know</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That enough is enough when they ask you to blow.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">So the King and Queen spent more than a year</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In a rented tent, while an engineer</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And an architect, at a very high price,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Built a brand-new palace of brand-new ice.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And there they lived and, as you’ll foresee,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Were just as happy as happy could be.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But Zephyrus, as his wife fortold,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Came home with a very serious cold;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And though he improved, yet even today,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">When he blows through a pine tree on his way,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He wheezes asthmatically all the way through.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Just listen some time and you’ll find this true.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_NORTH_WIND">THE NORTH WIND</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Long years ago and far away,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">One very sunny, summer day,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In tropic lands, one special spot</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was very, very, very hot.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A King lay in the sweltering shade,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">While crowds of dusky slaves arrayed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In almost nothing, tried to keep</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His Highness cool enough to sleep.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Though fans were waved to stir the air,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though fountains tinkled everywhere,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though every noisy sound was stilled,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though sweet and cooling odors filled</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The air, though lulled was every sense,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King was far from somnolence.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">“Descend,” said he, “O, drowsy god;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Vouchsafe at least to let me nod.”</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His prayer was vain, the god ’twas clear,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was out or did not care to hear.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">In desperation then the King</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Called up a slave and bade him bring</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Young Boreas, a big, fat fool,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And said, “Why don’t you make it cool?”</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Now Boreas knew of just one way</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">To cool things off, for every day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With mighty power of cheek and lung</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He blew his soup to save his tongue.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And so responding to the King</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He ’gan to blow like anything.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The sunshine paled, an icy chill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Came over all, and plain and hill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Were frosted white; in sound repose</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The King slept; what is more he froze.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Still Boreas blew and blew until</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There was no sound except the shrill</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Sound of his blowing; all in sight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Was silenced by the frosty blight.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He stopped, lo, all the land was dead;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In terror at his deed he fled,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Nor stopped for flood nor stick nor stone</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Until he reached the arctic zone.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And there he dwells; alas, we know</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">That he remembers how to blow.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="HOW_IT_HAPPENED">HOW IT HAPPENED</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Amidst fair gardens long ago</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Beneath a changing sky,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">There stood a castle, while below</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A stream flowed slowly by.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A goodly man of high degree</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Lived with his lady there;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And time and fate had brought them three</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Fair sons with joy and care.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">These boys played by the river’s rim;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Alas one autumn day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">It chanced while none was watching him</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The youngest son at play</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Fell in a deep and muddy pool;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The yells that did resound</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Would make it clear to any fool</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">That someone might be drowned.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The father grabbed a handy hook</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And ran his best; before</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He reached the pool, the colored cook</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Had brought the boy to shore.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The father held him downside up,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And rolled him round and round;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He yelled—joy filled the father’s cup—</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He couldn’t yell if drowned.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">A joyful spanking, then a bath,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Dry clothes; when he came through,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Though deeply stirred to rosy wrath,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He seemed as good as new.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The father pondered long—then sent</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">A note to Zeus which said;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">“In general the government</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Has had an honest head.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">But ’gainst one thing I now protest;</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">The waters everywhere</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">In north and south and east and west</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Are left completely bare.”</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Great Zeus had been in politics</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">For years and years and years;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">His term approached its close, and kicks</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Like this aroused his fears</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">That reelection now might fail.</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">He told Jack Frost to plan</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Whatever measure might avail</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">To satisfy the man.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And so Jack Frost invented ice,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And spread it clear and thin</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Upon the waters; this device</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Kept folks from falling in.</div></div>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Alas, he did not dare to go</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Far in the temperate zone;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The warm South Wind, his bitter foe,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Might catch him there alone.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And now when Spring comes back in May,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">With robins in her train,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Jack Frost, the coward, flees away</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And waits for Winter’s reign.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The ice without his constant care,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">Grown thin and weak and brown,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Runs off and leaves the water bare,</div>
+<div class="verse indent2">And anyone may drown.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FIRST_MIST">THE FIRST MIST</h2></div>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Once Hermes paused in arrowy flight</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And while he hovered to alight,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Beheld a winsome mortal maid;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With other maids she danced and played;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">They all were fair; he thought this one</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The fairest thing beneath the sun.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Then Hermes, like a golden gleam,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Darted and dropped beside a stream;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He called up from the water clear</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A naiad; in her dripping ear</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">He whispered long and low, while she</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Nodded and chuckled pleasantly.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">She waved her hand; he flew away;</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A mist formed ’round the maids at play.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Then flying Hermes did invade</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The thickening mist and kissed the maid,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">And flew reluctantly away</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With sighs and smiles; (for many a day</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Olympian letters went astray.)</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">The other maidens midst the mist,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Where they stood silently unkissed,</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Saw nothing though they heard a sound</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Like rose leaves falling on the ground.</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The mist grew thin that had concealed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">The startled maid; she stood revealed</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">With conscious blush and just below</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">A budding branch of mistletoe.</div></div>
+
+<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">And so the whole world came to know</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Of mist and maids and mistletoe.</div></div>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="transnote"><h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Note">Transcriber’s Note:</h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected in
+this version, but minor inconsistencies and archaic forms have been
+retained as printed.</p>
+
+<p>Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of their
+respective poems in this version.</p>
+
+<p>A table of contents has been added to this version</p>
+
+<p>Two instances of a doubled word has been changed to single:</p>
+
+<p>In <i>The Boy and the Basilisk</i>: <a href="#cor_045">the the <i>to</i> the</a></p>
+
+<p>In <I>Why the Sea is Salt</i>: <a href="#cor_049">every every <i>to</i> every</a></p>
+</div></div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77672 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #77672
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77672)