N for Nonsense

ABC Wednesday
April 13, 2016
The letter is N for Nonsense

A little Jumblie nonsense from Edward Lear......

The Jumblies...

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did
In a Sieve they went to sea;
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
They called aloud, " our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button.  We don't care a fig!
In a sieve we'll go to sea!"
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,

In a Sieve they sailed so fast;

With only a beautiful pea-green veil

Tied with a riband by way of a sail,

To a small tobacco-pipe mast;

And everyone said, who saw them go,

"O won't they be soon upset, you know!

For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long

And happen what may, it's extremely wrong

In a Sieve to sail so fast!

Far and few, far and few,

Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The water it soon came in, it did

The water it soon came in;

So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet

In a pinky paper all folded neat,

And they fastened it down with a pin.

And they passed the night in a crockery jar

And each of them said, "How wise we are!

Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,

Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong, 

While round in our Sieve we spin!"

Far and few, far and few

are the lands where the Jumblies live;

Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
"O Timbalio! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!"
Far and few, far and few
are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more.
And everyone said, "How tall they've grown!

For they've been to the Lakes and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!"
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And everyone said, "If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve -
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear, (1812-1888)  who wrote this poem,
was the second youngest of twenty-one children
born to a middle class English family, and because of
financial problems he and his sister, 21 years older than Edward,
moved into a home of their own when he was four.

Although beset by melancholy, depression and poor health
Edward was an artist, an illustrator, a musician, author and poet.

Well known for "The Owl and the Pussy-cat"
 his many humorous limericks and
his irreverent view of the world

I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story of the Jumblies
but it has a certain carefree are about it
that seems to overcome all difficulties....

Lots more Ns here at ABC Wednesday
with thanks to Roger, Denise and and any nonsensical
helpers they might have.