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Mount upwards by this living ladder;
Sure never little lad was gladder.
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Meanwhile John Dull, a spying round,
The self same honey tree had found;
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Up to the fork himself he reared
When Bruin's ugly mug appeared.
Augh, back he fell through utter fright;
Close to his tail did Braun alight;
And by Braun's heels Braun's parasite.
[Illustration]
Braun seized John Dull with either claw,
Just as himself was seized before;
[Illustration]
John pulling out his hunting knife
Cut off his tail to save his life;
[Illustration]
Sam Dutton here did interveen,
"To shoot that grizzly bear I mean"!
But Braun was nowhere to be seen.
[Illustration]
Early next morn came sawyers two,
And sawed the Honey tree right through;
[Illustration]
There stuck the boots of young Eugene;
[Illustration]
He drew them out, and licked them clean;
Such blacking ne'er before was seen!
While John Dull, from the luscious store,
Filled twenty honey pots or more.
Fytte VII. The Frog.
[Illustration]
"The appetite with eating grows"--
This truth my little story shows.
For many a day the rogue Eugene
To John Dull's bee-hives creeps unseen;
Smokes them,--Puff!--Puff!--then boldly takes
The much desired honey cakes.
[Illustration]
When lo! one day the angry swarm
Out on him rushed--the day was warm;
They covered him from top to toe,
Behind, before, above, below,
They buzzed, they crawled, they stung him,--Oh!
[Illustration]
Eugene half stifled, for his nose
And mouth were covered like his clothes,
Rushed to the nearest water-pit,
And took a header into it;
[Illustration]
Rose through the Bee-besprinkled foam,
And ran, all dripping, to his home.
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Felt quite unwell! The doctor came
And to his illness gave a name.
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"By aid of careful auscultation,"
"And thinking on his late natation,"
"I think, I think that I deskiver,"
"A frog within this dear boy's liver."
[Illustration]
"I'll get him up." A bee he took,
Impaled it on a fishing-hook;
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Played it within his open jaws,
A bite! and up the frog he draws;
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Frog to the open window took,
And cut the line close by the hook;
[Illustration]
Frog to the pool, rejoicing, hopped;
And plump into the water dropped.
Then chanted his Batrachian lay
Quite in th' Artistophanic way;
"Brekekekek, coax, coax,
Coax, coax, Brekekekek."
Fytte VIII. The Ghost.
[Illustration]
Forbidden fruit is sweet they say;
And so its gathered every day;
And should this fruit be sweet before,
Forbid it, and 'tis ten times more.
Eugene oft coveted the pot
Of honey that John Dull had got
Placed on the shelf above his head,
For safety, when he went to bed;
[Illustration]
John slept, John snored; then ope'd his eyes
And stared about him with surprise.
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"What's this I see come crawling on?"
"Sure, 'tis a strange phenomenon."
[Illustration]
A winged beast, with tail, and claws
On his four feet, which end in paws.
[Illustration]
With stealthy pace on on it crawled,
John turned upon his face, and bawled.
[Illustration]
John's hair as this strange beast drew near
His night cap raised for very fear.
[Illustration]
On its hind legs itself it reared,
As it its squalling master neared,
[Illustration]