The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Who sins in hope, who, sinning, says,
‘Sorrow for sin God's judgement stays!’
Against God's Spirit he lies; quite stops
Mercy with insult; dares, and drops,
Like a scorch'd fly, that spins in vain
Upon the axis of its pain,
Then takes its doom, to limp and crawl,
Blind and forgot, from fall to fall.”

286

[“Farewell, farewell! but this I tell]

“Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”

316

Chapter V
A Beggar's Palace

319

[“From sackcloth couch the Monk arose]

“From sackcloth couch the Monk arose,
With toil his stiffen'd limbs he rear'd;
A hundred years had flung their snows
On his thin locks and floating beard.”

320

[“He thought he saw an Elephant]

“He thought he saw an Elephant,
That practised on a fife:
He looked again, and found it was

321

A letter from his wife.
‘At length I realise,’ he said,
‘The bitterness of Life.’”

325

Chapter VI
The Magic Locket

328

[“He thought he saw a Buffalo]

“He thought he saw a Buffalo
Upon the chimney-piece:
He looked again, and found it was
His Sister's Husband's Niece.
‘Unless you leave this house,’ he said,
‘I'll send for the Police!’”

330

[“He thought he saw a Rattlesnake]

“He thought he saw a Rattlesnake
That questioned him in Greek:
He looked again, and found it was
The Middle of Next Week.
‘The one thing I regret,’ he said,
‘Is that it cannot speak!’”

332

Chapter VII
The Baron's Embassy

334

[“He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk]

“He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus:
‘If this should stay to dine,’ he said,
‘There won't be much for us!’”

339

Chapter VIII
A Ride on a Lion

342

[“He thought he saw a Kangaroo]

“He thought he saw a Kangaroo
That worked a coffee-mill:
He looked again, and found it was
A Vegetable-Pill.
‘Were I to swallow this,’ he said,
‘I should be very ill!’”

345

[“Let craft, ambition, spite]

“Let craft, ambition, spite,
Be quenched in Reason's night,
Till weakness turn to might,
Till what is dark be light,
Till what is wrong be right!”

346

Chapter IX
A Jester and a Bear

347

[“He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four]

“He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four
That stood beside his bed:
He looked again, and found it was
A Bear without a Head.
‘Poor thing,’ he said, ‘poor silly thing!
It's waiting to be fed!’”

354

Chapter X
The Other Professor

359

[There was a Pig, that sat alone]

There was a Pig, that sat alone,
Beside a ruined Pump.
By day and night he made his moan:
It would have stirred a heart of stone
To see him wring his hoofs and groan,
Because he could not jump.

361

Chapter XI
Peter and Paul

362

[‘Peter is poor,’ said noble Paul]

‘Peter is poor,’ said noble Paul,
‘And I have always been his friend:
And, though my means to give are small,
At least I can afford to lend.
How few, in this cold age of greed,
Do good, except on selfish grounds!
But I can feel for Peter's need,
And I WILL LEND HIM FIFTY POUNDS!’

How great was Peter's joy to find
His friend in such a genial vein!
How cheerfully the bond he signed,
To pay the money back again!
‘We ca'n't,’ said Paul, ‘be too precise:
'Tis best to fix the very day:
So, by a learned friend's advice,
I've made it Noon, the Fourth of May.’

‘But this is April!’ Peter said.
‘The First of April, as I think.
Five little weeks will soon be fled:
One scarcely will have time to wink!
Give me a year to speculate—
To buy and sell—to drive a trade—’
Said Paul ‘I cannot change the date.
On May the Fourth it must be paid.’

‘Well, well!’ said Peter, with a sigh.
‘Hand me the cash, and I will go.
I'll form a Joint-Stock Company,
And turn an honest pound or so.’
‘I'm grieved,’ said Paul, ‘to seem unkind:
The money shall of course be lent:
But, for a week or two, I find
It will not be convenient.’

363

So, week by week, poor Peter came
And turned in heaviness away;
For still the answer was the same,
‘I cannot manage it to-day.’
And now the April showers were dry—
The five short weeks were nearly spent—
Yet still he got the old reply,
‘It is not quite convenient!’

The Fourth arrived, and punctual Paul
Came, with his legal friend, at noon.
‘I thought it best,’ said he, ‘to call:
One cannot settle things too soon.’
Poor Peter shuddered in despair:
His flowing locks he wildly tore:
And very soon his yellow hair
Was lying all about the floor.

The legal friend was standing by,
With sudden pity half unmanned:
The tear-drop trembled in his eye,
The signed agreement in his hand:
But when at length the legal soul
Resumed its customary force,
‘The Law,’ he said, ‘we ca'n't control:
Pay, or the Law must take its course!’

Said Paul ‘How bitterly I rue
That fatal morning when I called!
Consider, Peter, what you do!
You won't be richer when you're bald!
Think you, by rending curls away,
To make your difficulties less?
Forbear this violence, I pray:
You do but add to my distress!’

364

‘Not willingly would I inflict,’
Said Peter, ‘on that noble heart
One needless pang. Yet why so strict?
Is this to act a friendly part?
However legal it may be
To pay what never has been lent,
This style of business seems to me
Extremely inconvenient!

‘No Nobleness of soul have I,
Like some that in this Age are found!’
(Paul blushed in sheer humility,
And cast his eyes upon the ground.)
‘This debt will simply swallow all,
And make my life a life of woe!’
‘Nay, nay, my Peter!’ answered Paul.
‘You must not rail on Fortune so!

‘You have enough to eat and drink:
You are respected in the world:
And at the barber's, as I think,
You often get your whiskers curled.
Though Nobleness you ca'n't attain—
To any very great extent—
The path of Honesty is plain,
However inconvenient!’

‘'Tis true,’ said Peter, ‘I'm alive:
I keep my station in the world:
Once in the week I just contrive
To get my whiskers oiled and curled.
But my assets are very low:
My little income's overspent:
To trench on capital, you know,
Is always inconvenient!’

365

‘But pay your debts!’ cried honest Paul.
‘My gentle Peter, pay your debts!
What matter if it swallows all
That you describe as your “assets”?
Already you're an hour behind:
Yet Generosity is best.
It pinches me—but never mind!
I WILL NOT CHARGE YOU INTEREST!’

‘How good! How great!’ poor Peter cried.
‘Yet I must sell my Sunday wig—
The scarf-pin that has been my pride—
My grand piano—and my pig!’
Full soon his property took wings:
And daily, as each treasure went,
He sighed to find the state of things
Grow less and less convenient.

Weeks grew to months, and months to years:
Peter was worn to skin and bone:
And once he even said, with tears,
‘Remember, Paul, that promised Loan!’
Said Paul ‘I'll lend you, when I can,
All the spare money I have got—
Ah, Peter, you're a happy man!
Yours is an enviable lot!

‘I'm getting stout, as you may see:
It is but seldom I am well:
I cannot feel my ancient glee
In listening to the dinner-bell:
But you, you gambol like a boy,
Your figure is so spare and light:
The dinner-bell's a note of joy
To such a healthy appetite!’

366

Said Peter ‘I am well aware
Mine is a state of happiness:
And yet how gladly could I spare
Some of the comforts I possess!
What you call healthy appetite
I feel as Hunger's savage tooth:
And, when no dinner is in sight,
The dinner-bell's a sound of ruth!

‘No scare-crow would accept this coat:
Such boots as these you seldom see,
Ah, Paul, a single five-pound-note
Would make another man of me!’
Said Paul ‘It fills me with surprise
To hear you talk in such a tone:
I fear you scarcely realise
The blessings that are all your own!

‘You're safe from being overfed:
You're sweetly picturesque in rags:
You never know the aching head
That comes along with money-bags:
And you have time to cultivate
That best of qualities, Content—
For which you'll find your present state
Remarkably convenient!’

Said Peter ‘Though I cannot sound
The depths of such a man as you,
Yet in your character I've found
An inconsistency or two.
You seem to have long years to spare
When there's a promise to fulfil:
And yet how punctual you were
In calling with that little bill!’

367

‘One ca'n't be too deliberate,’
Said Paul, ‘in parting with one's pelf.
With bills, as you correctly state,
I'm punctuality itself.
A man may surely claim his dues:
But, when there's money to be lent,
A man must be allowed to choose
Such times as are convenient!’

It chanced one day, as Peter sat
Gnawing a crust—his usual meal—
Paul bustled in to have a chat,
And grasped his hand with friendly zeal.
‘I knew,’ said he, ‘your frugal ways:
So, that I might not wound your pride
By bringing strangers in to gaze,
I've left my legal friend outside!

‘You well remember, I am sure,
When first your wealth began to go,
And people sneered at one so poor,
I never used my Peter so!
And when you'd lost your little all,
And found yourself a thing despised,
I need not ask you to recall
How tenderly I sympathised!

‘Then the advice I've poured on you,
So full of wisdom and of wit:
All given gratis, though 'tis true
I might have fairly charged for it!
But I refrain from mentioning
Full many a deed I might relate—
For boasting is a kind of thing
That I particularly hate.

368

‘How vast the total sum appears
Of all the kindnesses I've done,
From Childhood's half-forgotten years
Down to that Loan of April One!
That Fifty Pounds! You little guessed
How deep it drained my slender store:
But there's a heart within this breast,
And I WILL LEND YOU FIFTY MORE!’

‘Not so,’ was Peter's mild reply,
His cheeks all wet with grateful tears:
‘No man recalls, so well as I,
Your services in bygone years:
And this new offer, I admit,
Is very very kindly meant—
Still, to avail myself of it
Would not be quite convenient!’

369

Chapter XII
A Musical Gardener

374

[“He thought he saw an Albatross]

“He thought he saw an Albatross
That fluttered round the lamp:
He looked again, and found it was
A Penny-Postage-Stamp.
‘You'd best be getting home,’ he said:
‘The nights are very damp!’”

376

[“He thought he saw a Garden-Door]

“He thought he saw a Garden-Door
That opened with a key:
He looked again, and found it was
A Double Rule of Three:
‘And all its mystery,’ he said,
‘Is clear as day to me!’”

397

Chapter XV
Bruno's Revenge

401

[“Rise, oh, rise! The daylight dies]

“Rise, oh, rise! The daylight dies:
The owls are hooting, ting, ting, ting!
Wake, oh, wake! Beside the lake
The elves are fluting, ting, ting, ting!
Welcoming our Fairy King,
We sing, sing, sing.”

402

“Hear, oh, hear! From far and near
The music stealing, ting, ting, ting!
Fairy bells adown the dells
Are merrily pealing, ting, ting, ting!
Welcoming our Fairy King,
We ring, ring, ring.

“See, oh, see! On every tree
What lamps are shining, ting, ting, ting!
They are eyes of fiery flies
To light our dining, ting, ting, ting!
Welcoming our Fairy King
They swing, swing, swing.

“Haste, oh, haste, to take and taste
The dainties waiting, ting, ting, ting!
Honey-dew is stored—”

412

Chapter XVII
The Three Badgers

419

[“There be three Badgers on a mossy stone]

“There be three Badgers on a mossy stone,
Beside a dark and covered way:

420

Each dreams himself a monarch on his throne,
And so they stay and stay—
Though their old Father languishes alone,
They stay, and stay, and stay.

“There be three Herrings loitering around,
Longing to share that mossy seat:
Each Herring tries to sing what she has found
That makes Life seem so sweet.
Thus, with a grating and uncertain sound,
They bleat, and bleat, and bleat.

“The Mother-Herring, on the salt sea-wave,
Sought vainly for her absent ones:
The Father-Badger, writhing in a cave,
Shrieked out ‘Return, my sons!
You shall have buns,’ he shrieked, ‘if you'll behave!
Yea, buns, and buns, and buns!’

“‘I fear,’ said she, ‘your sons have gone astray?
My daughters left me while I slept.’
‘Yes'm,’ the Badger said: ‘it's as you say.’
‘They should be better kept.’
Thus the poor parents talked the time away,
And wept, and wept, and wept.”

421

“Oh, dear beyond our dearest dreams,
Fairer than all that fairest seems!
To feast the rosy hours away,
To revel in a roundelay!
How blest would be
A life so free—
Ipwergis-Pudding to consume,
And drink the subtle Azzigoom!

“And if, in other days and hours,
Mid other fluffs and other flowers,
The choice were given me how to dine—
‘Name what thou wilt: it shall be thine!’
Oh, then I see
The life for me—
Ipwergis-Pudding to consume,
And drink the subtle Azzigoom!”

“The Badgers did not care to talk to Fish:
They did not dote on Herrings' songs:
They never had experienced the dish
To which that name belongs:
‘And oh, to pinch their tails,’ (this was their wish,)
‘With tongs, yea, tongs, and tongs!’”

422

“‘And are not these the Fish,’ the Eldest sighed,
‘Whose Mother dwells beneath the foam?’
‘They are the Fish!’ the Second one replied.
And they have left their home!’
‘Oh wicked Fish,’ the Youngest Badger cried,
‘To roam, yea, roam, and roam!’

“Gently the Badgers trotted to the shore—
The sandy shore that fringed the bay:
Each in his mouth a living Herring bore—
Those aged ones waxed gay:
Clear rang their voices through the ocean's roar,
‘Hooray, hooray,hooray!’”

423

Chapter XVIII
Queer Street, Number Forty

430

[‘How many miles to Babylon?]

‘How many miles to Babylon?
Three-score miles and ten.
Can I get there by candlelight?
Yes, and back again!’”

441

Chapter XX
Light Come, Light Go

444

[“He steps so lightly to the land]

“He steps so lightly to the land,
All in his manly pride:
He kissed her cheek, he pressed her hand,
Yet still she glanced aside.
‘Too gay he seems,’ she darkly dreams,
‘Too gallant and too gay
To think of me—poor simple me—
When he is far away!’

‘I bring my Love this goodly pearl
Across the seas,’ he said:
‘A gem to deck the dearest girl
That ever sailor wed!’
She clasps it tight: her eyes are bright:
Her throbbing heart would say
‘He thought of me—he thought of me—
When he was far away!’

The ship has sailed into the West:
Her ocean-bird is flown:
A dull dead pain is in her breast,
And she is weak and lone:
Yet there's a smile upon her face,
A smile that seems to say
‘He'll think of me—he'll think of me—
When he is far away!

‘Though waters wide between us glide,
Our lives are warm and near:

445

No distance parts two faithful hearts—
Two hearts that love so dear:
And I will trust my sailor-lad,
For ever and a day,
To think of me—to think of me—
When he is far away!’”