Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/404

There was a Pig that sat alone
Beside a ruined Pump:
By day and night he made his moan——
It would have stirred a heart of stone
To see him wring his hoofs and groan,
Because he could not jump.
 
A certain Camel heard him shout——
A Camel with a hump.
"Oh, is it Grief or is it Gout?
What is this bellowing about?"
That Pig replied, with quivering snout,
"Because I cannot jump!"
 
That Camel scanned him, dreamy-eyed.
"Methinks you are too plump.
I never knew a Pig so wide——
That wobbled so from side to side——
Who could, however much he tried,
Do such a thing as jump!
 
"Yet mark those trees, two miles away,
All clustered in a clump:
If you could trot there twice a day,
Nor ever pause for rest or play.
In the far future—Who can say?——
You may be fit to jump."