Sylvie and Bruno - Complete Series (All 3 Books in One Illustrated Edition). Льюис Кэрролл
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Название: Sylvie and Bruno - Complete Series (All 3 Books in One Illustrated Edition)

Автор: Льюис Кэрролл

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

Серия:

isbn: 9788027237159

isbn:

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      “I’m getting stout, as you may see:

      It is but seldom I am well:

      I cannot feel my ancient glee

      In listening to the dinner-bell:

      But you, you gambol like a boy,

      Your figure is so spare and light:

      The dinner-bell’s a note of joy

      To such a healthy appetite!”

      Said Peter “I am well aware

      Mine is a state of happiness:

      And yet how gladly could I spare

      Some of the comforts I possess!

      What you call healthy appetite

      I feel as Hunger’s savage tooth:

      And, when no dinner is in sight,

      The dinner-bell’s a sound of ruth!

      “No scare-crow would accept this coat:

      Such boots as these you seldom see.

      Ah, Paul, a single five-pound-note

      Would make another man of me!”

      Said Paul “It fills me with surprise

      To hear you talk in such a tone:

      I fear you scarcely realise

      The blessings that are all your own!

      “You’re safe from being overfed:

      You’re sweetly picturesque in rags:

      You never know the aching head

      That comes along with money-bags:

      And you have time to cultivate

      That best of qualities, Content—

      For which you’ll find your present state

      Remarkably convenient!”

      Said Peter “Though I cannot sound

      The depths of such a man as you,

      Yet in your character I’ve found

      An inconsistency or two.

      You seem to have long years to spare

      When there’s a promise to fulfil:

      And yet how punctual you were

      In calling with that little bill!”

      “One ca’n’t be too deliberate,”

      Said Paul, “in parting with one’s pelf.

      With bills, as you correctly state,

      I’m punctuality itself.

      A man may surely claim his dues:

      But, when there’s money to be lent,

      A man must be allowed to choose

      Such times as are convenient!”

      It chanced one day, as Peter sat

      Gnawing a crust—his usual meal—

      Paul bustled in to have a chat,

      And grasped his hand with friendly zeal.

      “I knew,” said he, “your frugal ways:

      So, that I might not wound your pride

      By bringing strangers in to gaze,

      I’ve left my legal friend outside!

      “You well remember, I am sure,

      When first your wealth began to go,

      And people sneered at one so poor,

      I never used my Peter so!

      And when you’d lost your little all,

      And found yourself a thing despised,

      I need not ask you to recall

      How tenderly I sympathised!

      “Then the advice I’ve poured on you,

      So full of wisdom and of wit:

      All given gratis, though ’tis true

      I might have fairly charged for it!

      But I refrain from mentioning

      Full many a deed I might relate—

      For boasting is a kind of thing

      That I particularly hate.

      “How vast the total sum appears

      Of all the kindnesses I’ve done,

      From Childhood’s half-forgotten years

      Down to that Loan of April One!

      That Fifty Pounds! You little guessed

      How deep it drained my slender store:

      But there’s a heart within this breast,

      And I WILL LEND YOU FIFTY MORE!”

And I will lend you fifty more!

      “Not so,” was Peter’s mild reply,

      His cheeks all wet with grateful tears:

      “No man recalls, so well as I,

      Your services in bygone years:

      And this new offer, I admit,

      Is very very kindly meant—

      Still, to avail myself of it

      Would not be quite convenient!”

      You’ll СКАЧАТЬ