textField=<b>The Hunting of the Snark<i> by Lewis Carrol</i></b><br><br>"JUST the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,<br>As he landed his crew with care;<br>Supporting each man on the top of the tide<br>By a finger entwined in his hair.<br><br>"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:<br>That alone should encourage the crew.<br>Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:<br>What I tell you three times is true."<br><br>The crew was complete: it included a Boots-<br>A maker of Bonnets and Hoods-<br>A Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes-<br>And a Broker, to value their goods.<br><br>A Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense,<br>Might perhaps have won more than his share-<br>But a Banker, engaged at enormous expense,<br>Had the whole of their cash in his care.<br><br>There was also a Beaver, that paced on the deck,<br>Or would sit making lace in the bow:<br>And had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck<br>Though none of the sailors knew how.<br><br>There was one who was famed for the number of things<br>He forgot when he entered the ship:<br>His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and rings,<br>And the clothes he had bought for the trip.<br><br>He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed,<br>With his name painted clearly on each:<br>But, since he omitted to mention the fact,<br>They were all left behind on the beach.<br><br>The loss of his clothes hardly mattered, because<br>He had seven coats on when he came,<br>With three pair of boots- but the worst of it was,<br>He had wholly forgotten his name.<br><br>He would answer to "Hi!" or to any loud cry,<br>Such as "Fry me!" or "Fritter my wig!"<br>To "What-you-may-call-um!" or "What-was-his-name!"<br>But especially "Thing-um-a jig!"<br><br>While, for those who preferred a more forcible word,<br>He had different names from these:<br>His intimate friends called him "Candle-ends,"<br>And his enemies "Toasted-cheese."<br><br>"His form is ungainly- his intellect small-"<br>(So the Bellman would often remark)-<br>"But his courage is perfect! And that, after all,<br>Is the thing that one needs with a Snark."<br><br>He would joke with hyaenas, returning their stare<br>With an impudent wag of the head:<br>And he once went a walk, paw-in-paw, with a bear,<br>"Just to keep up its spirits," he said.<br><br>He came as a Baker: but owned, when too late-<br>And it drove the poor Bellman half-mad-<br>He could only bake Bride-cake- for which, I may state,<br>No materials were to be had.<br><br>The last of the crew needs especial remark,<br>Though he looked an incredible dunce:<br>He had just one idea- but, that one being "Snark,"<br>The good Bellman engaged him at once.<br><br>He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared,<br>When the ship had been sailing a week,<br>He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared,<br>And was almost too frightened to speak:<br><br>But at length he explained, in a tremulous tone,<br>There was only one Beaver on board;<br>And that was a tame one he had of his own,<br>Whose death would be deeply deplored.<br><br>The Beaver, who happened to hear the remark,<br>Protested, with tears in its eyes,<br>That not even the rapture of hunting the Snark<br>Could atone for that dismal surprise!<br><br>It strongly advised that the Butcher should be<br>Conveyed in a separate ship:<br>But the Bellman declared that would never agree<br>With the plans he had made for the trip:<br><br>Navigation was always a difficult art,<br>Though with only one ship and one bell:<br>And he feared he must really decline, for his part,<br>Undertaking another as well.<br><br>The Beaver's best course was, no doubt, to procure<br>A second-hand dagger-proof coat-<br>So the Baker advised it- and next, to insure<br>Its life in some Office of note:<br><br>This the Banker suggested, and offered for hire<br>(On moderate terms), or for sale,<br>Two excellent Policies, one Against Fire<br>And one Against Damage From Hail.<br><br>Yet still, ever after that sorrowful day,<br>Whenever the Butcher was by,<br>The Beaver kept looking the opposite way,<br>And appeared unaccountably shy.<br><br>
