 | The Five Notions |  |
37
THE BEGINNING
As Adam sat a-thinking
Over his supper ale,
Eve, weary of her distaff,
Said “Adam, tell's a tale!” . .
Adam, to do him justice,
Went very, very pale.
Over his supper ale,
Eve, weary of her distaff,
Said “Adam, tell's a tale!” . .
Adam, to do him justice,
Went very, very pale.
He said, “I—do not know one”
(This was a trifle slim);
Eve pouted pretty poutings;
He said, “Well—have your whim.”
We must not blame poor Adam—
The woman tempted him.
(This was a trifle slim);
Eve pouted pretty poutings;
He said, “Well—have your whim.”
We must not blame poor Adam—
The woman tempted him.
38
He lifted up his flagon
And said, “What shall it be?—
A tale about a”—[Here he drank
Deep of the barley bree]
And Eve said, “Why not make it
About a man—and me?”
And said, “What shall it be?—
A tale about a”—[Here he drank
Deep of the barley bree]
And Eve said, “Why not make it
About a man—and me?”
So Adam made a story,
How underneath the moon
A man looked on a woman
Till he was like to swoon,
And how he loved and loved her
From April into June.
How underneath the moon
A man looked on a woman
Till he was like to swoon,
And how he loved and loved her
From April into June.
And how in June they quarrelled
(About a man, in brief)
And how the lady pined and pined
And nearly died of grief.
[Here to her eye did Eve apply
Her pocket-handkerchief.]
(About a man, in brief)
And how the lady pined and pined
And nearly died of grief.
[Here to her eye did Eve apply
Her pocket-handkerchief.]
39
“But in the end,” quoth Adam,
“It all came out just-so;
And hand in hand those lovers
Unto a church did go.
It was a pretty wedding
And—well, the rest you know.”
“It all came out just-so;
And hand in hand those lovers
Unto a church did go.
It was a pretty wedding
And—well, the rest you know.”
Thus Adam, without thinking,
Called down the primal curse,
And started Art with fiction
Instead of minor verse,
Which might have been much better
Or might have been much worse.
Called down the primal curse,
And started Art with fiction
Instead of minor verse,
Which might have been much better
Or might have been much worse.
Thus Eve, our common mother,
By pretty, female tricks,
Helped to bring us, her children,
Into our present fix,
With footle at six shillings,
And stodge at three-and-six.
By pretty, female tricks,
Helped to bring us, her children,
Into our present fix,
With footle at six shillings,
And stodge at three-and-six.
| The Five Notions | |