Eugene Field (Юджин Филд)

The Two Little Skeezucks

There were two little skeezucks who lived in the isle
  Of Boo in a southern sea;
They clambered and rollicked in heathenish style
  In the boughs of their cocoanut tree.
They didn't fret much about clothing and such
  And they recked not a whit of the ills
    That sometimes accrue
    From having to do
With tailor and laundry bills.

The two little skeezucks once heard of a Fair
  Far off from their native isle,
And they asked of King Fan if they mightn't go there
  To take in the sights for awhile.
    Now old King Fan
    Was a good-natured man
(As good-natured monarchs go),
And howbeit he swore that all Fairs were a bore,
He hadn't the heart to say "No."

So the two little skeezucks sailed off to the Fair
  In a great big gum canoe,
And I fancy they had a good time there,
  For they tarried a year or two.
And old King Fan at last began
  To reckon they'd come to grief,
    When glory! one day
    They sailed into the bay
To the tune of "Hail to the Chief!"

The two little skeezucks fell down on the sand,
  Embracing his majesty's toes,
Till his majesty graciously bade them stand
  And salute him nose to nose.
    And then quoth he:
    "Divulge unto me
  What happenings have hapt to you;
And how did they dare to indulge in a Fair
  So far from the island of Boo?"

The two little skeezucks assured their king
  That what he surmised was true;
That the Fair would have been a different thing
  Had it only been held in Boo!
"The folk over there in no wise compare
  With the folk of the southern seas;
    Why, they comb out their heads
    And they sleep in beds
Instead of in caverns and trees!"

The two little skeezucks went on to say
  That children (so far as they knew)
Had a much harder time in that land far away
  Than here in the island of Boo!
    They have to wear clo'es
    Which (as every one knows)
  Are irksome to primitive laddies,
While, with forks and with spoons, they're denied the sweet boons
That accrue from free use of one's paddies!

"And now that you're speaking of things to eat,"
  Interrupted the monarch of Boo,
"We beg to inquire if you happened to meet
  With a nice missionary or two?"
"No, that we did not; in that curious spot
 Where were gathered the fruits of the earth,
   Of that special kind
   Which Your Nibs has in mind
There appeared a deplorable dearth!"

Then loud laughed that monarch in heathenish mirth
  And loud laughed his courtiers, too,
And they cried: "There is elsewhere no land upon earth
  So good as our island of Boo!"
    And the skeezucks, tho' glad
    Of the journey they'd had,
  Climbed up in their cocoanut trees,
Where they still may be seen with no shirts to keep clean
  Or trousers that bag at the knees.

1. Mary Smith
2. A Paraphrase
3. Two Valentines
4. My Playmates
5. A Piteous Plaint

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