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Such a lovely tail! Its feathers float

Between the ends of his blue dress-coat;

With pea-green trowsers all so neat,

And a delicate frill to hide his feet,—

(For though no one speaks of it, every one

knows,

He has got no webs between his toes!)

As soon as he saw our Daughter Dell,

In violent love that Crane King fell,—

On seeing her wadding form so fair,

With a wreath of shrimps in her shot white

hair.

And before the end of the next long day,

Our Dell had given her heart away;

For the King of the Cranes had won that

heart,

With a Crocodile’s egg and a large fish-tart.

She vowed to marry the King of the Cranes,

Leaving the Nile for stranger plains;

And away they flew in a gathering crowd

Of endless birds in a lengthening cloud.

Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee!

We think no Birds so happy as we!

Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill!

We think so then, and we thought so still!

And far away in the twilight sky,

We heard them singing a lessening cry,—

Farther and farther till out of sight,

And we stood alone in the silent night!

Often since, in the nights of June,

We sit on the sand and watch the moon;—

She has gone to the great Gromboolian plain,

And we probably never shall meet again!

Oft, in the long still nights of June,

We sit on the rocks and watch the moon;—

She dwells by the streams of the Chankly

Bore,

And we probably never shall see her more.

Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee!

We think no Birds so happy as we!

Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill!

We think so then, and we thought so still!

The Table and the Chair

I

Said the Table to the Chair,

“You can hardly be aware,

How I suffer from the heat,

And from chilblains on my feet!

If we took a little walk,

We might have a little talk!

Pray let us take the air!”

Said the Table to the Chair.

II

Said the Chair unto the Table,

“Now you Know we are not able!

How foolishly you talk,

When you know we cannot walk!”

Said the Table, with a sigh,

“It can do no harm to try,

I’ve as many legs as you,

Why can’t we walk on two?”

III

So they both went slowly down,

And walked about the town

With a cheerful bumpy sound,

As they toddled round and round.