O little Ben Bute
Had a flute, flute, flute,
And went about the world in a knickerbocker suit;
Down, up and down,
And round about the town,
He played and he played tootle-too, toot, toot!
_Tootle-too, tootle-too-ey!_
He could not play it well,
So the notes rose and fell,
Tootle, tootle-too, with a twirl and a squeak;
The wind, puff, puff,
Was forty times enough,
That he sent into the flute from his cheek, cheek, cheek,
_Tootle-too, tootle-too-ey!_
Then people to the lad
Said, “This is very bad!
Our ears they are splitting, with your toot, toot, toot;
Is there no one within reach--
What, no one!--who will teach
Little Bute how to play upon the flute, flute, flute?”
_Tootle-too, tootle-too-ey!_
[Illustration]