She offered Sam her hand.

'And that old Uncle Buncle,

For joy of his release,

On Burgundy got drunk all

Day in Castle Buncle,

Which hastened his decease.

'The lovely maiding Buncle

Inherited the land;

And, now her aged Uncle

Has gone, the Hearl of Buncle

Is Sam, the foremast hand.'

[Pg 68]

[Pg 68]

'Of course,' said Sam modestly, 'the song goes too far in sayin' as how I married the Hearl's niece, because, for one thing, I ain't a marryin' man, and for another thing, what she really sez to me when we got to land was, "You're a noble feller, an' here's five shillin's for you, and any time you happen to be round our way, just give a ring at the servants' bell, and there'll always be a feed waitin' for you in the kitchen." However, you've got to have songs to fill in the time with, and when a feller's got a rotten word like Buncle to find rhymes for, there's no sayin' how a song'll end.'

'The exigencies of rhyme,' said Bunyip Bluegum, 'may stand excused from a too strict insistence on verisimilitude, so that the general gaiety is thereby promoted. And now,' he added, 'before retiring to rest, let us all join in song,' and grasping each other's hands they loudly sang—

THE PUDDIN'-OWNERS' EVENSONG

'Let feeble feeders stoop

To plates of oyster soup.

 Prev. P 36/80 next