Oncet, when I was a gret big man, I got mad at the way
Ol' nurses bossed the childruns an' so I wouldn't stay;
I jest got up and PUSHED MY HOUSE right over--yes, I did;
An' then I turned the streets all round, and runned away and hid!
When I come back, my childruns was cryin' awful loud,
Fer nobody knowed _wher_ they lived, an' there was _such_ a crowd.
I says, "Now, folks must shet their eyes--don't open them a crack!"--
An' then I straightened out the streets, an' put the houses back.
'N oncet I was a NELUPHANT, as big as all outdoors,
'N every time I turned around it shook the roofs and floors;
I walked down to the river, and I drunk it up--ALL up,
Jest like it was some cambric tea in my ol' silver cup.
An' when the people come fer me, I jest set down, kerplunk!
An' squashed 'em flat--an' picked them up--an' packed 'em in my trunk!
'N then I TWIST MY TRUNK OFF, an' throwed it all away--
You better let me go, Louise--I MIGHT do that to-day!
You won't? All right--you'd BETTER DID, for one time long ago,
Before I gotter be a boy, I was a BEAR--oh, no--
I was a SNAKE--a yaller snake, an' I was TEN MILES long,
'N all I et was nurse girls--yes, I DID, although 'twas wrong.
That was a million years ago, but something--inside me--
Tells me I'm goin' to be a snake AGAIN--jest watch and see!
You don't believe a word I say? Well, I don't care--I DO--
How could I 'MEMBER all these things, unlessen they was true?