The Jumblies By Edward Lear, 1846

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
  In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,
  In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, ‘You’ll all be drowned!’
They called aloud, ‘Our Sieve ain’t big,
But we don’t care a button! we don’t care a fig!
  In a Sieve we’ll go to sea!’
     Far and few, far and few,
        Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
     Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
        And they went to sea in a Sieve.


II

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
  In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
  To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And every one said, who saw them go,
‘O won’t they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it’s extremely wrong
  In a Sieve to sail so fast!’
     Far and few, far and few,
        Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
     Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
        And they went to sea in a Sieve.


III

The water it soon came in, it did,
  The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
  And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, ‘How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
  While round in our Sieve we spin!’
     Far and few, far and few,
        Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
     Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
        And they went to sea in a Sieve.


IV

And all night long they sailed away;
  And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
  In the shade of the mountains brown.
‘O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in a sieve and a crockery-jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
  In the shade of the mountains brown!’
     Far and few, far and few,
        Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
    Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
        And they went to sea in a Sieve.


V

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
  To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
  And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
  And no end of Stilton Cheese.
     Far and few, far and few,
        Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
     Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
        And they went to sea in a Sieve.


VI

And in twenty years they all came back,
  In twenty years or more,
And every one said, ‘How tall they’ve grown!’
For they’ve been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
  And the hills of the Chankly Bore;
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And everyone said, ‘If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,—
  To the hills of the Chankly Bore!’
     Far and few, far and few,
        Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
     Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
        And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat By Edward Lear 1871

I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
  In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
  Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
  And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
   What a beautiful Pussy you are,
        You are,
        You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

II
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
  How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
  But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
  To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
  With a ring at the end of his nose,
            His nose,
            His nose,
  With a ring at the end of his nose.

III
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
  Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
  By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
  Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
  They danced by the light of the moon,
            The moon,
            The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

The Duck and the Kangaroo, by Edward Lear (1870)

I

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,
    ‘Good gracious! how you hop!
Over the fields and the water too,
    As if you never would stop!
My life is a bore in this nasty pond,
And I long to go out in the world beyond!
    I wish I could hop like you!’
    Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.


II

‘Please give me a ride on your back!’
    Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.
‘I would sit quite still, and say nothing but “Quack,”
    The whole of the long day through!
And we’d go to the Dee, and the Jelly Bo Lee,
Over the land, and over the sea;—
    Please take me a ride! O do!’
    Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.


III

Said the Kangaroo to the Duck,
    ‘This requires some little reflection;
Perhaps on the whole it might bring me luck,
    And there seems but one objection,
Which is, if you’ll let me speak so bold,
Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,
And would probably give me the roo-
    Matiz!’ said the Kangaroo.

  IV

Said the Duck, ‘As I sate on the rocks,
    I have thought over that completely,
And I bought four pairs of worsted socks
    Which fit my web-feet neatly.
And to keep out the cold I’ve bought a cloak,
And every day a cigar I’ll smoke,
    All to follow my own dear true
    Love of a Kangaroo!’


V

Said the Kangaroo, ‘I’m ready!
    All in the moonlight pale;
But to balance me well, dear Duck, sit steady!
    And quite at the end of my tail!’
So away they went with a hop and a bound,
And they hopped the whole world three times round;
    And who so happy,—O who,
    As the Duck and the Kangaroo?.

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, by Anonymous (circa 1800s)

Poor old lady, she swallowed a fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Poor old lady, I think she’ll die!

Poor old lady, she swallowed a spider,
It squirmed and wriggled and turned inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Poor old lady, I think she’ll die!

Poor old lady, she swallowed a bird.
How absurd! She swallowed a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Poor old lady, I think she’ll die!

Poor old lady, she swallowed a cat.
Think of that! She swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Poor old lady, I think she’ll die!

Poor old lady, she swallowed a dog.
She went the whole hog when she swallowed the dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Poor old lady, I think she’ll die!

Poor old lady, she swallowed a cow.
I don’t know how she swallowed a cow.
She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Poor old lady, I think she’ll die!

Poor old lady, she swallowed a horse.
She died, of course.