soon picked it up, and managed the chorus as well, perhaps, as it is possible for one person to manage such a thing. It was in vain that I signed to Sylvie to help me: she only smiled sweetly and shook her head.
"King Fisher courted Lady Bird
Sing Beans, sing Bones, sing Butterflies!
'Find me my match,' he said,
'With such a noble head
With such a beard, as white as curd
With such expressive eyes!'
"'Yet pins have heads,' said Lady Bird
Sing Prunes, sing Prawns, sing Primrose-Hill!
'And, where you stick them in,
They stay, and thus a pin
Is very much to be preferred
To one that's never still!'
"'Oysters have beards,' said Lady Bird
Sing Flies, sing Frogs, sing Fiddle-strings!
'I love them, for I know
They never chatter so:
They would not say one single word
Not if you crowned them Kings!'
