"'Twas on the "Saucy Soup Tureen",
That Sam was foremast hand,
When on the quarter-deck was see
A maiding fit to be a Queen
With her old Uncle stand.
"And Sam he chewed salt junk all
Day with grief forlorn,
Because the Hearl of Buncle,
The lovely maiding's Uncle,
Regarded him with scorn.
"And Sam at once was sunk all
In passion deep and grand,
But this here aged Uncle
He was the Hearl of Buncle
And Sam a foremast hand.
"When sailin' by Barbado,
The Saucy Soup Tureen,
Before she could be stayed-O
Went down in a tornado,
And never more was seen.
"The passengers were sunk all
Beneath the ragin' wave,
The maiding and her Uncle,
The Noble Hearl of Buncle,
Were saved by Sam the Brave.
"He saved the Noble Buncle
By divin' off the poop.
The maiding in a funk all
He saved along with Uncle
Upon a chicken coop.
"And this here niece of Buncle,
When they got safe to land,
For havin' saved her Uncle,
The Noble Hearl of Buncle,
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."
"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 servant's 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--