Through the Looking Glass

“But the tune ISN'T his own invention,” she said to herself: “it's “I GIVE THEE ALL, I CAN NO MORE."“ She stood and listened very attentively, but no tears came into her eyes.

“I'll tell thee everything I can;

There's little to relate.

I saw an aged aged man,

A-sitting on a gate.

“Who are you, aged man?” I said,

“and how is it you live?”

And his answer trickled through my head

Like water through a sieve.

He said “I look for butterflies

That sleep among the wheat:

I make them into mutton-pies,

And sell them in the street.

I sell them unto men,” he said,

“Who sail on stormy seas;

And that's the way I get my bread—

A trifle, if you please.”

But I was thinking of a plan

To dye one's whiskers green,

And always use so large a fan

That they could not be seen.

So, having no reply to give

To what the old man said,

I cried, “Come, tell me how you live!”

And thumped him on the head.

His accents mild took up the tale:

He said “I go my ways,

And when I find a mountain-rill,

I set it in a blaze;

And thence they make a stuff they call

Rolands” Macassar Oil—

Yet twopence-halfpenny is all

They give me for my toil.”

But I was thinking of a way

To feed oneself on batter,

And so go on from day to day

Getting a little fatter.

I shook him well from side to side,

Until his face was blue:

“Come, tell me how you live,” I cried,

“And what it is you do!”

He said “I hunt for haddocks” eyes

Among the heather bright,

And work them into waistcoat-buttons

In the silent night.

And these I do not sell for gold

Or coin of silvery shine

But for a copper halfpenny,

And that will purchase nine.

“I sometimes dig for buttered rolls,

Or set limed twigs for crabs;

I sometimes search the grassy knolls

For wheels of Hansom-cabs.

And that's the way” (he gave a wink)

“By which I get my wealth—

And very gladly will I drink

Your Honour's noble health.”

I heard him then, for I had just

Completed my design

To keep the Menai bridge from rust

By boiling it in wine.

I thanked much for telling me

The way he got his wealth,

But chiefly for his wish that he

Might drink my noble health.