University of Virginia Library

Among the Animals

One rainy morning,
Just for a lark,
I jumped and stamped
On my new Noah's Ark:
I crushed an elephant,
Smashed a gnu,
And snapped a camel
Clean in two;
I finished the wolf
Without half tryin',
And wild hyena,
And roaring lion;
I knocked down Ham,
And Japhet, too,
And cracked the legs
Of the kangaroo;
I finished, besides,
Two pigs and a donkey,
A polar bear,
A 'possum, and monkey;
Also the lions,
Tigers, and cats,
And dromedaries,
And tiny rats.
There wasn't a thing
That didn't feel,
Sooner or later,
The weight o' my heel;
I felt as grand
As grand could be—
But oh, the whipping
My mammy gave me!