UNDERGROUND RESIDENTS
Nonsense Poems in Alice
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How doth the little crocodile
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How doth the little crocodile
 Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
 On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
 How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
 With gently smiling jaws!
『不思議の国のアリス』第2章「涙の池」
ごらん小さなワニさんが   “Against Idleness and Mischief” by Isaac Watts
   
アリスがうさぎ穴に落ちて不思議の国に入り込んだ最初に暗唱する詩「ごらん小さなワニさんが」。
本当は「ごらん小さなミツバチが――」と始めたかったのに違う言葉が出てきてしまい、きっと自分は貧乏であまり賢くないメーベルになってしまったんだと嘆きます。

この“How doth the little crocodile”は、賛美歌作家アイザック・ワッツ(1674-1748)による教訓詩“Against Idleness and Mischief”(1715)のパロディ。
   How doth the lit-tle bus-y bee
  Im-prove each shin-ing hour,
 And gath-er hon-ey all the day
  From ev-ery open-ing flower!

 How skill-ful-ly she builds her cell!
  How neat-ly spreads the wax!
 And la-bors hard to store it well
  With the sweet food she makes.

 In works of la-bor or of skill
  I would be bus-y too:
 For Sa-tan finds some mis-chief still
  For i-dle hands to do.

 In books, or work, or health-ful play
  Let my first years be passed,
 That I may give for ev-ery day
  Some good ac-count at last.
 
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