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 him much for telling me
The way he got his wealth,
But chiefly for his wish that he
Might drink my noble health.
And now, if e er by chance I put
My fingers into glue
Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot
Into a left-hand shoe,
Or if I drop upon my toe
A very heavy weight,
I weep, for it reminds me so,
Of that old man I used to know
Whose look was mild, whose speech was slow,
Whose hair was whiter than the snow,
Whose face was very like a crow,
With eyes, like cinders, all aglow,
Who seemed distracted with his woe,
Who rocked his body to and fro,
And muttered mumblingly and low,
As if his mouth were full of dough,
Who snorted like a buffalo
That summer evening, long ago,
A-sitting on a gate.
As the Knight sang the last words of the ballad, he gathered up the
reins, and turned his horse s head along the road by which they had
come. You ve only a few yards to go, he said, down the hill and over
that little brook, and then you ll be a Queen But you ll stay and see
me off first? he added as Alice turned with an eager look in the
84