The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

THE Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound-note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

      You are,

      You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are.'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing.

O let us be married, too long have we tarried,

But what shall we do for a ring?'

They sailed away for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows,

And there in the wood a Piggy-wig stood,

With a ring in the end of his nose,

      His nose,

      His nose!

With a ring in the end of his nose.

'Dear Pig, are you willing, to sell for one shilling

Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'

So they took it away, and were married next day,

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

      The moon,

      The moon!

They danced by the light of the moon.

Edward Lear

The Jumblies

THEY went to sea in a Sieve, they did,

In a Sieve they went to sea:

In spite of all their friends could say,

On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,

In a Sieve they went to sea!

And when the Sieve turned round and round,

And every one cried, `You'll all be drowned!'

They called aloud, `Our Sieve ain't big,

But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!

In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'

        Far and few, far and few,

             Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

        Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

             And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,

In a Sieve they sailed so fast,

With only a beautiful pea-green veil

Tied with a riband by way of a sail,

To a small tobacco-pipe mast;

And every one said, who saw them go,

`O won't they be soon upset, you know!

For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,

And happen what may, it's extremely wrong

In a Sieve to sail so fast!'

        Far and few, far and few,

             Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

        Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

             And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The water it soon came in, it did,

The water it soon came in;

So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet

In a pinky paper all folded neat,

And they fastened it down with a pin.

And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,

And each of them said, `How wise we are!

Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,

Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,

While round in our Sieve we spin!'

        Far and few, far and few,

             Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

        Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

             And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And all night long they sailed away;

And when the sun went down,

They whistled and warbled a moony song

To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,

In the shade of the mountains brown.

`O Timballo! How happy we are,

When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,

And all night long in the moonlight pale,

We sail away with a pea-green sail,

In the shade of the mountains brown!'

        Far and few, far and few,

             Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

        Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

             And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,

To a land all covered with trees,

And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,

And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,

And a hive of silvery Bees.

And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,

And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,

And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,

And no end of Stilton Cheese.

        Far and few, far and few,

             Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

        Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

             And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And in twenty years they all came back,

In twenty years or more,

And every one said, `How tall they've grown!

For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,

And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'

And they drank their health, and gave them a feast

Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;

And every one said, `If we only live,

We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---

To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'

        Far and few, far and few,

             Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

        Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

             And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear

HOW pleasant to know Mr. Lear,

Who has written such volumes of stuff.

Some think him ill-tempered and queer,

But a few find him pleasant enough.

His mind is concrete and fastidious,

His nose is remarkably big;

His visage is more or less hideous,

His beard it resembles a wig.

He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,

(Leastways if you reckon two thumbs);

He used to be one of the singers,

But now he is one of the dumbs.

He sits in a beautiful parlour,

With hundreds of books on the wall;

He drinks a great deal of marsala,

But never gets tipsy at all.

He has many friends, laymen and clerical,

Old Foss is the name of his cat;

His body is perfectly spherical,

He weareth a runcible hat.

When he walks in waterproof white,

The children run after him so!

Calling out, "He's gone out in his night-

Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"

He weeps by the side of the ocean,

He weeps on the top of the hill;

He purchases pancakes and lotion,

And chocolate shrimps from the mill.

He reads, but he does not speak, Spanish,

He cannot abide ginger beer;

Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!

Edward Lear