Existing comment:
The Butcher and the Beaver
from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
Michael Dempsey, 1975
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. ...
Yet still, ever after that sorrowful day,
-- Whenever the Butcher was by,
The Beaver kept looking the opposite way,
-- And appeared unaccountably shy.
The last to join the crew was the Butcher. |