"Just
the place for a Snark!" the
Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top
of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
" Just the place for a Snark! I
have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the
crew.
Just the place for a Snark! I
have said it thrice:
What i tell you three times is
true."
The crew was complete: it included
a Boots--
A maker of Bonnets and Hoods--
A Barrister, brought to arrange
their disputes--
And a Broker, to value their
goods.
A Billiard-maker, whose skill
was immense,
Might perhaps have won more than
his share--
But a Banker, engaged at enormous
expense,
Had the whole of their cash in
his care.
There was also a Beaver, that
paced on the deck,
Or would sit making lace in the
bow:
And had often (the Bellman said)
saved them from wreck,
Though none of the sailors knew
how.
There was one who was famed
for the number of things
He forgot when he entered the
ship:
His umbrella, his watch, all
his jewels and rings,
And the clothes he had bought
for the trip.
He had forty-two boxes, all
carefully packed,
With his name painted clearly
on each:
But, since he omitted to mention
the fact,
They were all left behind on
the beach.
The loss of his clothes hardly
mattered, because
He had seven coats on when he
came,
With three pairs of boots--but
the worst of it was,
He had wholly forgotten his name.
He would answer
to "Hi!" or
to any loud cry,
Such as "Fry me!" or "Fritter
my wig!"
To "What-you-may-call-um!" or "What-was-his-name!"
But especially "Thing-um-a-jig!"
While, for those who preferred
a more forcible word,
He had different names from these:
His intimate friends called him "Candle-ends,"
And his enemies "Toasted-cheese."
"His form
in ungainly--his intellect
small--"
(So the Bellman would often remark)
" But his courage is perfect! And
that, after all,
Is the thing that one needs with
a Snark."
He would joke with hyenas, returning
their stare
With an impudent wag of the head:
And he once went a walk, paw-in-paw,
with a bear,
"
Just to keep up its spirits," he
said.
He came as a Baker: but owned,
when too late--
And it drove the poor Bellman
half-mad--
He could only bake Bridecake--for
which, I may state,
No materials were to be had.
The last of the crew needs especial
remark,
Though he looked an incredible
dunce:
He had just one idea--but, that
one being "Snark,"
The good Bellman engaged him
at once.
He came as a Butcher: but gravely
declared,
When the ship had been sailing
a week,
He could only kill Beavers. The
Bellman looked scared,
And was almost too frightened
to speak:
But at length he explained,
in a tremulous tone,
There was only one Beaver on
board;
And that was a tame one he had
of his own,
Whose death would be deeply deplored.
The Beaver, who happened to
hear the remark,
Protested, with tears in its
eyes,
That not even the rapture of
hunting the Snark
Could atone for that dismal surprise!
It strongly advised that the
Butcher should be
Conveyed in a separate ship:
But the Bellman declared that
would never agree
With the plans he had made for
the trip:
Navigation was always a difficult
art,
Though with only one ship and
one bell:
And he feared he must really
decline, for his part,
Undertaking another as well.
The Beaver's best course was,
no doubt, to procure
A second-hand dagger-proof coat--
So the Baker advised it-- and
next, to insure
Its life in some Office of note:
This the Banker suggested, and
offered for hire
(On moderate terms), or for sale,
Two excellent Policies, one Against
Fire,
And one Against Damage From Hail.
Yet still, ever after that sorrowful
day,
Whenever the Butcher was by,
The Beaver kept looking the opposite
way,
And appeared unaccountably shy.
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