The hunting of the Snark Read online

"For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't

  Be caught in a commonplace way.

  Do all that you know, and try all that you don't:

  Not a chance must be wasted to-day!

  "For England expects — I forbear to proceed:

  'Tis a maxim tremendous, but trite:

  And you'd best be unpacking the things that you need

  To rig yourselves out for the fight."

  Then the Banker endorsed a blank check (which he crossed),

  And changed his loose silver for notes.

  The Baker with care combed his whiskers and hair,

  And shook the dust out of his coats.

  The Boots and the Broker were sharpening a spade -

  Each working the grindstone in turn:

  But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed

  No interest in the concern:

  Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride,

  And vainly proceeded to cite

  A number of cases, in which making laces

  Had been proved an infringement of right.

  The maker of Bonnets ferociously planned

  A novel arrangement of bows:

  While the Billiard-marker with quivering hand

  Was chalking the tip of his nose.

  But the Butcher turned nervous, and dressed himself fine,

  With yellow kid gloves and a ruff -

  Said he felt it exactly like going to dine,

  Which the Bellman declared was all "stuff."

  "Introduce me, now there's a good fellow," he said,

  "If we happen to meet it together!"

  And the Bellman, sagaciously nodding his head,

  Said "That must depend on the weather."

  The Beaver went simply galumphing about,

  At seeing the Butcher so shy:

  And even the Baker, though stupid and stout,

  Made an effort to wink with one eye.

  "Be a man!" said the Bellman in wrath, as he heard

  The Butcher beginning to sob.

  "Should we meet with a Jubjub, that desperate bird,

  We shall need all our strength for the job!"

  Fit the Fifth THE BEAVER'S LESSON

  They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

  They pursued it with forks and hope;

  They threatened its life with a railway-share;

  They charmed it with smiles and soap.

  Then the Butcher contrived an ingenious plan

  For making a separate sally;

  And fixed on a spot unfrequented by man,

  A dismal and desolate valley.

  But the very same plan to the Beaver occurred:

  It had chosen the very same place:

  Yet neither betrayed, by a sign or a word,

  The disgust that appeared in his face.

  Each thought he was thinking of nothing but "Snark"

  And the glorious work of the day;

  And each tried to pretend that he did not remark

  That the other was going that way.

  But the valley grew narrow and narrower still,

  And the evening got darker and colder,

  Till (merely from nervousness, not from goodwill)

  They marched along shoulder to shoulder.

  Then a scream, shrill and high, rent the shuddering sky,

  And they knew that some danger was near:

  The Beaver turned pale to the tip of its tail,

  And even the Butcher felt queer.

  He thought of his childhood, left far far behind -

  That blissful and innocent state -

  The sound so exactly recalled to his mind

  A pencil that squeaks on a slate!

  "'Tis the voice of the Jubjub!" he suddenly cried.

  (This man, that they used to call "Dunce.")

  "As the Bellman would tell you," he added with pride,

  "I have uttered that sentiment once.

  "'Tis the note of the Jubjub! Keep count, I entreat;

  You will find I have told it you twice.

  'Tis the song of the Jubjub! The proof is complete,

  If only I've stated it thrice."

  The Beaver had counted with scrupulous care,

  Attending to every word:

  But it fairly lost heart, and outgrabe in despair,

  When the third repetition occurred.

  It felt that, in spite of all possible pains,

  It had somehow contrived to lose count,

  And the only thing now was to rack its poor brains

  By reckoning up the amount.

  "Two added to one — if that could but be done,"

  It said, "with one's fingers and thumbs!"

  Recollecting with tears how, in earlier years,

  It had taken no pains with its sums.

  "The thing can be done," said the Butcher, "I think.

  The thing must be done, I am sure.

  The thing shall be done! Bring me paper and ink,

  The best there is time to procure."

  The Beaver brought paper,portfolio, pens,

  And ink in unfailing supplies:

  While strange creepy creatures came out of their dens,

  And watched them with wondering eyes.

  So engrossed was the Butcher, he heeded them not,

  As he wrote with a pen in each hand,

  And explained all the while in a popular style

  Which the Beaver could well understand.

  "Taking Three as the subject to reason about -

  A convenient number to state -

  We add Seven, and Ten, and then multiply out

  By One Thousand diminished by Eight.

  "The result we proceed to divide, as you see,

  By Nine Hundred and Ninety Two:

  Then subtract Seventeen, and the answer must be

  Exactly and perfectly true.

  "The method employed I would gladly explain,

  While I have it so clear in my head,

  If I had but the time and you had but the brain -

  But much yet remains to be said.

  "In one moment I've seen what has hitherto been

  Enveloped in absolute mystery,

  And without extra charge I will give you at large

  A Lesson in Natural History."

  In his genial way he proceeded to say

  (Forgetting all laws of propriety,

  And that giving instruction, without introduction,

  Would have caused quite a thrill in Society),

  "As to temper the Jubjub's a desperate bird,

  Since it lives in perpetual passion:

  Its taste in costume is entirely absurd -

  It is ages ahead of the fashion:

  "But it knows any friend it has met once before:

  It never will look at a bride:

  And in charity-meetings it stands at the door,

  And collects — though it does not subscribe.

  " Its flavor when cooked is more exquisite far

  Than mutton, or oysters, or eggs:

  (Some think it keeps best in an ivory jar,

  And some, in mahogany kegs:)

  "You boil it in sawdust: you salt it in glue:

  You condense it with locusts and tape:

  Still keeping one principal object in view -

  To preserve its symmetrical shape."

  The Butcher would gladly have talked till next day,

  But he felt that the lesson must end,

  And he wept with delight in attempting to say

  He considered the Beaver his friend.

  While the Beaver confessed, with affectionate looks

  More eloquent even than tears,

  It had learned in ten minutes far more than all books

  Would have taught it in seventy years.

  They returned hand-in-hand, and the Bellman, unmanned

  (For a moment) with noble emotion,

  Said "This amply repays all the wea
risome days

  We have spent on the billowy ocean!"

  Such friends, as the Beaver and Butcher became,

  Have seldom if ever been known;

  In winter or summer, 'twas always the same -

  You could never meet either alone.

  And when quarrels arose — as one frequently finds

  Quarrels will, spite of every endeavor -

  The song of the Jubjub recurred to their minds,

  And cemented their friendship for ever!

  Fit the Sixth THE BARRISTER'S DREAM

  They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

  They pursued it with forks and hope;

  They threatened its life with a railway-share;

  They charmed it with smiles and soap.

  But the Barrister, weary of proving in vain

  That the Beaver's lace-making was wrong,

  Fell asleep, and in dreams saw the creature quite plain

  That his fancy had dwelt on so long.

  He dreamed that he stood in a shadowy Court,

  Where the Snark, with a glass in its eye,

  Dressed in gown, bands, and wig, was defending a pig

  On the charge of deserting its sty.

  The Witnesses proved, without error or flaw,

  That the sty was deserted when found:

  And the Judge kept explaining the state of the law

  In a soft under-current of sound.

  The indictment had never been clearly expressed,

  And it seemed that the Snark had begun,

  And had spoken three hours, before any one guessed

  What the pig was supposed to have done.

  The Jury had each formed a different view

  (Long before the indictment was read),

  And they all spoke at once, so that none of them knew

  One word that the others had said.

  "You must know — — " said the Judge: but the Snark

  exclaimed "Fudge!"

  That statute is obsolete quite!

  Let me tell you, my friends, the whole question depends

  On an ancient manorial right.

  "In the matter of Treason the pig would appear

  To have aided, but scarcely abetted:

  While the charge of Insolvency fails, it is clear,

  If you grant the plea 'never indebted.'

  "The fact of Desertion I will not dispute;

  But its guilt, as I trust, is removed

  (So far as related to the costs of this suit)

  By the Alibi which has been proved.

  "My poor client's fate now depends on you votes."

  Here the speaker sat down in his place,

  And directed the Judge to refer to his notes

  And briefly to sum up the case.

  But the Judge said he never had summed up before;

  So the Snark undertook it instead,

  And summed it so well that it came to far more

  Than the Witnesses ever had said!

  When the verdict was called for, the Jury declined,

  As the word was so puzzling to spell;

  But they ventured to hope that the Snark wouldn't mind

  Undertaking that duty as well.

  So the Snark found the verdict, although, as it owned,

  It was spent with the toils of the day:

  When it said the word "GUILTY!" the Jury all groaned,

  And some of them fainted away.

  Then the Snark pronounced sentence, the Judge being quite

  Too nervous to utter a word:

  When it rose to its feet, there was silence like night,

  And the fall of a pin might be heard.

  "Transportation for lift" was the sentence it gave,

  "And *then* to be fined forty pound."

  The Jury all cheered, though the Judge said he feared

  That the phrase was not legally sound.

  But their wild exultation was suddenly checked

  When the jailer informed them, with tears,

  Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,

  As the pig had been dead for some years.

  The Judge left the Court, looking deeply disgusted:

  But the Snark, though a little aghast,

  As the lawyer to whom the defense was entrusted,

  Went bellowing on to the last.

  Thus the Barrister dreamed, while the bellowing seemed

  To grow every moment more clear:

  Till he woke to the knell of a furious bell,

  Which the Bellman rang close at his ear.

  Fit the Seventh THE BANKER'S FATE

  They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

  They pursued it with forks and hope;

  They threatened its life with a railway-share;

  They charmed it with smiles and soap.

  And the Banker, inspired with a courage so new

  It was matter for general remark,

  Rushed madly ahead and was lost to their view

  In his zeal to discover the Snark

  But while he was seeking with thimbles and care,

  A Bandersnatch swiftly drew nigh

  And grabbed at the Banker, who shrieked in despair,

  For he knew it was useless to fly.

  He offered large discount — he offered a check

  (Drawn "to bearer") for seven-pounds-ten:

  But the Bandersnatch merely extended its neck

  And grabbed at the Banker again.

  Without rest or pause — while those frumious jaws

  Went savagely snapping around-

  He skipped and he hopped, and he floundered and flopped,

  Till fainting he fell to the ground.

  The Bandersnatch fled as the others appeared

  Led on by that fear-stricken yell:

  And the Bellman remarked "It is just as I feared!"

  And solemnly tolled on his bell.

  He was black in the face, and they scarcely could trace

  The least likeness to what he had been:

  While so great was his fright that his waistcoat turned white-

  A wonderful thing to be seen!

  To the horror of all who were present that day.

  He uprose in full evening dress,

  And with senseless grimaces endeavored to say

  What his tongue could no longer express.

  Down he sank in a chair — ran his hands through his hair -

  And chanted in mimsiest tones

  Words whose utter inanity proved his insanity,

  While he rattled a couple of bones.

  "Leave him here to his fate — it is getting so late!"

  The Bellman exclaimed in a fright.

  "We have lost half the day. Any further delay,

  And we sha'nt catch a Snark before night!"

  Fit the Eighth THE VANISHING

  They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

  They pursued it with forks and hope;

  They threatened its life with a railway-share;

  They charmed it with smiles and soap.

  They shuddered to think that the chase might fail,

  And the Beaver, excited at last,

  Went bounding along on the tip of its tail,

  For the daylight was nearly past.

  "There is Thingumbob shouting!" the Bellman said,

  "He is shouting like mad, only hark!

  He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head,

  He has certainly found a Snark!"

  They gazed in delight, while the Butcher exclaimed

  "He was always a desperate wag!"

  They beheld him — their Baker — their hero unnamed -

  On the top of a neighboring crag.

  Erect and sublime, for one moment of time.

  In the next, that wild figure they saw

  (As if stung by a spasm) plunge into a chasm,

  While they waited and listened in awe.

&
nbsp; "It's a Snark!" was the sound that first came to their ears,

  And seemed almost too good to be true.

  Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:

  Then the ominous words "It's a Boo-"

  Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air

  A weary and wandering sigh

  Then sounded like "-jum!" but the others declare

  It was only a breeze that went by.

  They hunted till darkness came on, but they found

  Not a button, or feather, or mark,

  By which they could tell that they stood on the ground

  Where the Baker had met with the Snark.

  In the midst of the word he was trying to say,

  In the midst of his laughter and glee,

  He had softly and suddenly vanished away— -

  For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.

  THE END

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: 85348d51-86aa-45c8-ad30-be4e3f9d9374

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 2006-04-25

  Created using: FB Tools software

  Document authors :

  Cherckes

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