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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=455432" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Balbus</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I'll tell you the story of Balbus, <br>You know, him as builded a wall;<br>I'll tell you the reason he built it, <br>And the place where it happened an' all.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">This 'ere Balbus, though only a Tackler, <br>Were the most enterprising of men;<br>He'd heard Chicken Farms were lucrative, <br>So he went out and purchased a hen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Twere a White Wyandot he called Mabel, <br>At laying she turned out a peach,<br>And her eggs being all double-yoked ones <br>He reckoned they'd fetch twopence each.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When he took them along to the market <br>And found that the eggs that sold best<br>Were them as came over from China <br>He were vexed, but in no ways depressed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For Balbus, though only a Tackler, <br>In business were far from a dunce,<br>So he packed Mabel up in a basket <br>And started for China at once.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When he got there he took a small holding, <br>And selecting the sunniest part,<br>He lifted the lid of the basket<br>And said &quot;Come on, lass... make a start!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The 'en needed no second biddin', <br>She sat down and started to lay;<br>She'd been saving up all the way over <br>And laid sixteen eggs, straight away.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When the Chinamen heard what had happened<br>Their cheeks went the colour of mud, <br>They said it were sheer mass production<br>As had to be nipped in the bud.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They formed themselves in a committee <br>And tried to arrive at some course<br>Whereby they could limit the output <br>Without doing harm to the source.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At the finish they came to t' conclusion <br>That the easiest road they could take<br>Were to fill the 'en's nest up wi' scrap-iron <br>So as fast as she laid eggs they'd break.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Balbus went out the next morning <br>To fetch the eggs Mabel had laid<br>He found nowt but shells and albumen<br>He were hipped, but in no ways dismayed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For Balbus, though only a Tackler, <br>He'd a brain that were fertile and quick<br>He bought all the scrap-iron in t' district <br>To stop them repeating the trick.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But next day, to his great consternation <br>He were met with another reverse,<br>For instead of old iron they'd used clinker <br>And the eggs looked the same, or worse.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Twere a bit of a set-back for Balbus, <br>But he wasn't downhearted at all,<br>And when t' Chinamen came round next evening<br>They found he were building a wall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;That won't keep us out of your 'en 'ouse&quot;<br>Said one, with a smug kind of grin; <br>It's not for that purpose,&quot; said Balbus, <br>&quot;When it's done, it will keep you lot in.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Chinamen all burst out laffing, <br>They thowt as he'd gone proper daft<br>But Balbus got on wi' his building<br>And said &quot;He laffed last who last laffed.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Day by day Balbus stuck to his building, <br>And his efforts he never did cease<br>Till he'd builded the Great Wall of China <br>So as Mabel could lay eggs in peace.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Marriott+Edgar">Marriott Edgar</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=455432" data-title="Balbus de Marriott Edgar" data-description="I'll tell you the story of Balbus, 
You know, him as builded a wall;
I'll tell you the reason he built it, 
And the place where it happened an' all.

This 'ere Balbus, though only a Tackler, 
Were the most enterprising of men;
He'd heard Chicken F..."></div>
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