nobody could call me a fussy man

[incandescens]

Tomorrow my team leader gets back from two weeks vacation. I hope I've managed to keep everything in order. (Yes, it's an irrational fear. Irrational fears are irrational.)

Tomorrow evening I give a demonstration of jewellery-making, and hopefully sell some jewellery.

For some reason I am nervous about tomorrow.

My voice is back enough for me to be singing Christmas carols while doing the washing up. "He assumed this mortal body, frail and feeble, doomed to die, that the race from dust created might not perish utterly, which the dreadful law had sentenced in the depths of Hell to lie," while scrubbing the plates. Cheers me up no end.

Today's poem is in honour of the Norwegian butter crisis. (I shouldn't laugh. I'd rather have butter than margarine, myself.)

---

The King's Breakfast

The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told the Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."

The Alderney said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."

The Dairymaid
Said "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."

The Queen said
"Oh!"
And went to his Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer
And butter for his bread."

The queen took the butter
And brought it to
His Majesty.
The King said
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down
The banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

-- A A Milne

Comments

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Must google the Norwegian butter crisis.

And what hymn is that intensely gloomy verse from?

[incandescens]

It's from Of The Father's Heart Begotten, which is a nice full-throated tune to sing around the house when nobody's listening. :)

[archangelbeth]

Good luck with the beading class! (Observe how I side-step how many Ls to use in a word! O;D )

[incandescens]

I admire your cunning! :)

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

I had a horrible supermarket job one Christmas and used to sing the Lykewake Dirge as I worked.

This ae night, this ae night
This ae night and all
Fire and fleet and candlelight
And Christ receive thy soul...

It has a religious theme, I don't know why people were moving away from me...

[incandescens]

If ever thou gave meat and drink, the fire shall never make thee shrink:
If meat and drink thou ne'er gave nane, the fire shall burn thee to the bare bane...

[vincentursus.livejournal.com]

I remember being introduced to that poem by the Muppet Show.

[avalonjones.livejournal.com]

I loved that poem ever since I had it on an A.A. Milne calendar I had in the third grade, and I loved what the Muppets did with it!