University of Virginia Library

THE CHEESE-HOPPER.

Now listen to me—the Frog-hopper's a bragger,
And all he's told you is but empty swagger;
Why, love you, at leaping I beat him to fits,
And at the first spring jump him out of his wits.
Were my size but a match for the elephant tall,
I could clear at one bound the dome of St. Paul!
If you watch, you can see how I first make a spring:
I do it by coiling myself up in a ring;
With my mandibles I lay fast hold of my tail,
Give a jerk and leave loose, and then never fail
To leap at least fifty full times my own length.
There, Mr. Frog-hopper, that's what I call strength.
Just take up a glass and see how I am made,
And you'll own that I put the Frog-hopper in shade,
Will find that I have such an elegant shape,
That the very next time when your cheese-crust you scrape
You'll be very careful and do me no harm,
For once see me leap and your eye I shall charm.
And now when you see me alive in a cheese,
Let me beg that you won't eat me up, if you please,
But lay me aside, and you'll find by-and-by
I shall turn to a very beautiful fly.
Besides, if you eat me, I'm so very small,
To satisfy hunger I'm no use at all;
Spare me, pray do, then I'll give a leap,
If into the cheese you'll again let me creep.
It's no joke, I can tell you, to lie very long
In a cheese that is old, and rotten, and strong,
And then to be always in fear of your life:
Now dodging a scoop, and then cutting a knife;
Now wriggling away from a finger or thumb,
Then giving a wide berth to some tempting crumb,
Lest with it I should be sent down your red lane,
And never see cheese nor daylight again.
Then pray let me live, don't devour me, please,
But send me back, saying, “This isn't the cheese;”
But oh! let me live till I'm able to fly,
To feel the glad sunshine and soar in the sky.
And remember that if with your cheese you eat me,
I'm not to be blamed if it doesn't agree;
I'm not to be blamed if I wriggle about,
And leap up my highest, and try to get out;
For I am sure the same thing you would do,
Were I big and you little, if I swallowed you.