Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Humorous Poems: V. NonsenseThe Bakers Tale
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (18321898)T
They roused him with mustard and cress—
They roused him with jam and judicious advice—
They set him conundrums to guess.
His sad story he offered to tell;
And the Bellman cried “Silence! Not even a shriek!”
And excitedly tingled his bell.
Scarcely even a howl or a groan,
As the man they called “Ho!” told his story of woe
In an antediluvian tone.
“Skip all that!” cried the Bellman in haste.
“If it once become dark, there ’s no chance of a Snark—
We have hardly a minute to waste!”
“And proceed without further remark
To the day when you took me aboard of your ship
To help you in hunting the Snark.
Remarked, when I bade him farewell—”
“Oh, skip your dear uncle!” the Bellman exclaimed,
As he angrily tingled his bell.
“‘If your Snark be a Snark, that is right:
Fetch it home by all means—you may serve it with greens,
And it ’s handy for striking a light.
You may hunt it with forks and hope;
You may threaten its life with a railway-share;
You may charm it with smiles and soap—’”
In a hasty parenthesis cried,
“That ’s exactly the way I have always been told
That the capture of Snarks should be tried!”)
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!’
When I think of my uncle’s last words:
And my heart is like nothing so much as a bowl
Brimming over with quivering curds!
The Bellman indignantly said.
And the Baker replied, “Let me say it once more.
It is this, it is this that I dread!
In a dreamy, delirious fight:
I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,
And I use it for striking a light:
In a moment (of this I am sure),
I shall softly and suddenly vanish away—
And the notion I cannot endure!”