The Hunting of the Snark

"Come, listen, my men, while I tell you again

The five unmistakable marks

By which you may know, wheresoever you go,

The warranted genuine Snarks.

"Let us take them in order. The first is the taste.

Which is meagre and hollow, but crisp:

Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist.

With a flavour of Will-o-the-wisp.

"Its habit of getting up late you'll agree

That it carries too far, when I say

That it frequently breakfasts at five-o'clock tea.

And dines on the following day.

"The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines.

Which it constantly carries about.

And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes—

A sentiment open to doubt.

"The fifth is ambition. It next will be right

To describe each particular batch;

Distinguishing those that have feathers, and bite.

From those that have whiskers, and scratch.

"For, although common Snarks do no manner of harm.

Yet I feel it my duty to say

Some are Boojums—"The Bellman broke off in alarm.

For the Baker had fainted away.

They roused him with muffins—they roused him with ice—

They roused him with mustard and cress—

They roused him with jam and judicious advice—

They set him conundrums to guess.

When at length he sat up and was able to speak.

His sad story he offered to tell;

And the Bellman cried "Silence! Not even a shriek!"

And excitedly tingled his bell.

There was silence supreme! Not a shriek, not a scream.

Scarcely even a howl or a groan.

As the man they called "Ho!" told his story of woe

In an antediluvian tone.

"My father and mother were honest, though poor—"

"Skip all that!" cried the Bellman in haste.

"If it once becomes dark, there's no chance of a Snark.

We have hardly a minute to waste!"

"I skip forty years," said the Baker, in tears,

"And proceed without further remark

To the day when you took me aboard of your ship

To help you in hunting the Snark.

"A dear uncle of mine (after whom I was named)

Remarked, when I bade him farewell—"

"Oh, skip your dear uncle," the Bellman exclaimed,

As he angrily tingled his hell.

"He remarked to me then," said the mildest of men,

"If your Snark be a Snark, that is right;

Fetch it home by all means—you may serve it with greens

And it's handy for striking a light.

"You may seek it with thimbles—and seek it with care;

You may hunt it with forks and hope;

You may threaten its life with a railway-share;

You may charm it with smiles and soap—

"'But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day.

If your Snark be a Boojum! For then

You will softly and suddenly vanish away

And never be met with again!'

"It is this, it is that oppresses my soul.

When I think of my uncle's last words:

And my heart is like nothing so much as a bowl

Brimming over with quivering curds!

"It is this, it is this—"  "We have had that before!"

The Bellman indignantly said.

And the Baker replied "Let me say it once more.

It is this, it is this that I dread!

"I engage with the Snark—every night after dark—

In a dreamy delirious fight:

I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes.

And I use it for striking a light:

"But if ever I met with a Boojum, that day,

In a moment (of this I am sure),

I shall softly and suddenly vanish away—

And the notion I cannot endure!"

The Bellman looked uffish and wrinkled his brow.

"If only you'd spoken before!

It's excessively awkward to mention it now,

With the Snark, so to speak, at the door!

"We should all of us grieve, as you well may believe.

If you never were met with again—

But surely, my man, when the voyage began,

You might have suggested it then?

"It's excessively awkward to mention it now—

As I think I've already remarked."

And the man they called "Hi!" replied, with a sigh,

"I informed you the day we embarked.

"You may charge me with murder—or want of sense—

(We are all of us weak at times)

But the slightest approach to a false pretence

Was never among my crimes!

"I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch—

I said it in German and Greek:

But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)

That English is what you speak!"