Soon set up a team

Of sleek water-rats,

And covered his head

With the brightest of hats;

Then, with a phaeton and footman or two,

He drove forth to dazzle, to awe and subdue.

Oh! glum was his face, his heart icy cold!

THE FROG.

And the seat of his car,

Though too wide by far

For one single frog, not another would hold.

183

VII.

But when did the heartless, disdainful, and flat
Live on, unrebuked by this world's tit for tat?
And why did our frog trust his fate to a rat?
One day, as he drove,

There came forth to stare.

Kingfisher and Duck -

A most comical pair.

The first was the proudest that ever was seen,
For the rod in his hand was the gift of his queen;
But the other ah! never did duck so expand ;
Yet strut as he could,

And strain as he would,

Poor Quack, for the life of him, could n't look grand.

VIII.

Yet he took it amiss that his efforts were lost
To thaw with his splendor that armor of frost
(For our frog quite disdained any duck to accost),
And loudly he shouted,

"Come back, sir, come back!
You're spoiling our road

With your zig-zagging track,

Come back, or yon man, with his cat-o'-nine tails, Will be after your team, till you whistle like quails Great Neptune! If there ain't the mischief to pay!

Just as sure as I waddle,
Or swim, dive, or paddle,

Those rats of young Gluck's are a-running away!"

Too true.

peal

IX.

They had heard the duck's dreadful ap

A cat with nine tails! why, the thought made them

squeal.

And they ran for their holes, with poor. Gluck, neck and heel.

But whether he lived,

Or whether he died,
Or whether the rats

Managed safely to hide,

Or whether his parents e'er saw him again,
Or whether Miss Gung always waited in vain,
'Neath her lily-pads green, for a lover, or no,
Are things that belong

To the rest of my song
Of the frog who would n't a-wooing go.

PART SECOND.

I.

OH! moan, ye winds, by the green pool's brink!
And quickly, ye Glucks, in the deep mud sink;
Prepare all the dregs of affliction to drink!

THE FROG.

The pride of the puddle,
Breath of thy breath,

Lies low in the marshes,

Fainting to death.

185

Oh! weep, poor Miss Gung! for there never shall be
In thy home of the lilies a lover for thee.

Thy sun goeth down with never a glow,
He hath frowned on thy fate,

On thy maiden estate,

And the one whom thou lovest is lying all low!

II.

Ha! what is this coming? what wreck do they spy?
What driverless rat-steeds are these rushing by?
"Our child!" cried the mother; "oh! fly to him, fly!"
These words to old Gluck,

And that mother fell dead;

She had burst with her grief,

And the vital spark fled.

Then madly in search leaped that father bereft,
And wildly those goggle-eyes peered right and left;
Till at last, where the bank lay a little aslant,
He saw his son lying,

Apparently dying,

For all he could do was to quiver and pant.

III.

"Oh! leap, little Eng" (this, Gluck said to his latest, A froggy half-grown), “bring of doctors the greatest, And look to thy speed, that thou never abatest.

Bring Tightskin, or Squatt,
Or my cousin Paff-Puff;
But don't bring them all-
One doctor's enough.

O horror! he fails! Be quick, Eng, be quick!
His eye-balls are sinking! his breath's growing thick.
Either Tightskin or Squatt will be better than Paff—
But Eng never heard,

He had left at the word,

Bound, of course, for the third of that medical staff.

IV.

"Oh! look at me, son! Oh! lift up your head! And don't lie so limp, for you fill me with dread For pity's sake, hear me. Your mother is dead!" "Dead!" gasped Master Gluck,

"And I lying here?

Oh! why will these mothers

Step out of their sphere?

If ever I needed good nursing 'tis now,

And your masculine paw, sir, it scratches my brow.
I need some one gentle-more gentle than air
O father! I fear

I am injured in here."

And our frog pressed his heart in the deepest despair.

V.

"Now, bear up, my son," cried the sorrowing Gluck. "See! the doctor is coming. He'll bring us good luck. By my croak! but it's Paff, the conceited old buck.'