The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #60657 Message #971180
Posted By: Charley Noble
23-Jun-03 - 05:17 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: I Sent a Message to the Fish (L Carroll)
Subject: Lyr Add: I SENT A MESSAGE TO THE FISH (L Carroll)
Apparently there is reference to this poem in the thread discussion but no one has posted the whole thing:
I SENT A MESSAGE TO THE FISH
(Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, chapter VI.:
As sung by Humpty Dumpty)
I sent a message to the fish:
I told them
"This is what I wish."
The little fishes of the sea,
They sent an answer back to me.
The little fishes' answer was
"We cannot do it, Sir, because -- "'
("I'm afraid I don't quite understand", said Alice.
"It gets easier further on", Humpty Dumpty replied.)
I sent to them again to say
"It will be better to obey."
The fishes answered with a grin,
"Why, what a temper you are in!"
I told them once, I told them twice:
They would not listen to advice.
I took a kettle large and new,
Fit for the deed I had to do.
My heart went hop, my heart went thump;
I filled the kettle at the pump.
Then some one came to me and said,
"The little fishes are in bed."
I said to him, I said it plain,
"Then you must wake them up again."
I said it very loud and clear;
I went and shouted in his ear.'
(Humpty Dumpty raised his voice almost to a scream as he repeated this verse, and Alice thought with a shudder, "I wouldn't have been the messenger for ANYTHING!")
But he was very stiff and proud;
He said "You needn't shout so loud!"
And he was very proud and stiff;
He said "I'd go and wake them, if -- "
I took a corkscrew from the shelf:
I went to wake them up myself.
And when I found the door was locked,
I pulled and pushed and knocked.
And when I found the door was shut,
I tried to turn the handle, but -- '
(There was a long pause.
"Is that all?" Alice timidly asked.)
Cheerily,
Charley Noble