She vowed to marry the King of the Cranes,
    Leaving the Nile for stranger plains;
    And away they flew in a gathering crowd
    Of endless birds in a lengthening cloud. 
        Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee! 
        We think no Birds so happy as we! 
        Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill! 
        We think so then, and we thought so still!

    And far away in the twilight sky
    We heard them singing a lessening cry,—­
    Farther and farther, till out of sight,
    And we stood alone in the silent night! 
    Often since, in the nights of June,
    We sit on the sand and watch the moon,—­

    She has gone to the great Gromboolian Plain,
    And we probably never shall meet again! 
    Oft, in the long still nights of June,
    We sit on the rocks and watch the moon,—­
    She dwells by the streams of the Chankly Bore. 
    And we probably never shall see her more. 
        Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee! 
        We think no Birds so happy as we! 
        Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill! 
        We think so then, and we thought so still!

[NOTE.—­The Air of this and the following Song by Edward Lear; the Arrangement for the Piano by Professor Pome, of San Remo, Italy.]

[Illustration:  Sheet Music—­The Yonghy Bonghy Bo]

THE COURTSHIP OF THE YONGHY-BONGHY-BO.

[Illustration]

I.

    On the Coast of Coromandel
        Where the early pumpkins blow,
          In the middle of the woods
      Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo. 
    Two old chairs, and half a candle,
    One old jug without a handle,—­
          These were all his worldly goods: 
          In the middle of the woods,
          These were all the worldly goods
      Of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo,
      Of the Yonghy-Bonghy Bo.

II.

    Once, among the Bong-trees walking
        Where the early pumpkins blow,
          To a little heap of stones
      Came the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo. 
    There he heard a Lady talking,
    To some milk-white Hens of Dorking,—­
        “’Tis the Lady Jingly Jones! 
          On that little heap of stones
          Sits the Lady Jingly Jones!”
      Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo,
      Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.

III.

“Lady Jingly!  Lady Jingly! 
Sitting where the pumpkins blow,
Will you come and be my wife?”
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo. 
“I am tired of living singly—­
On this coast so wild and shingly,—­
I’m a-weary of my life;
If you’ll come and be my wife,
Quite serene would be my life!”
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo,
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.

IV.

“On this Coast of Coromandel
Shrimps and watercresses grow,
Prawns are plentiful and cheap,”
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo. 
“You shall have my chairs and candle,
And my jug without a handle! 
Gaze upon the rolling deep
(Fish is plentiful and cheap);
As the sea, my love is deep!”
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo,
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.