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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=538997" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Captain and the Mermaids</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">I SING a legend of the sea,<br>So hard-a-port upon your lee!<br>A ship on starboard tack!<br>She's bound upon a private cruise -<br>(This is the kind of spice I use<br>To give a salt-sea smack).</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Behold, on every afternoon<br>(Save in a gale or strong Monsoon)<br>Great CAPTAIN CAPEL CLEGGS<br>(Great morally, though rather short)<br>Sat at an open weather-port<br>And aired his shapely legs.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And Mermaids hung around in flocks,<br>On cable chains and distant rocks,<br>To gaze upon those limbs;<br>For legs like those, of flesh and bone,<br>Are things &quot;not generally known&quot;<br>To any Merman TIMBS.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Mermen didn't seem to care<br>Much time (as far as I'm aware)<br>With CLEGGS'S legs to spend;<br>Though Mermaids swam around all day<br>And gazed, exclaiming, &quot;THAT'S the way<br>A gentleman should end!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;A pair of legs with well-cut knees,<br>And calves and ankles such as these<br>Which we in rapture hail,<br>Are far more eloquent, it's clear<br>(When clothed in silk and kerseymere),<br>Than any nasty tail.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And CLEGGS - a worthy kind old boy -<br>Rejoiced to add to others' joy,<br>And, when the day was dry,<br>Because it pleased the lookers-on,<br>He sat from morn till night - though con-<br>Stitutionally shy.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At first the Mermen laughed, &quot;Pooh! pooh!&quot;<br>But finally they jealous grew,<br>And sounded loud recalls;<br>But vainly. So these fishy males<br>Declared they too would clothe their tails<br>In silken hose and smalls.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They set to work, these water-men,<br>And made their nether robes - but when<br>They drew with dainty touch<br>The kerseymere upon their tails,<br>They found it scraped against their scales,<br>And hurt them very much.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The silk, besides, with which they chose<br>To deck their tails by way of hose<br>(They never thought of shoon),<br>For such a use was much too thin, -<br>It tore against the caudal fin,<br>And &quot;went in ladders&quot; soon.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So they designed another plan:<br>They sent their most seductive man<br>This note to him to show -<br>&quot;Our Monarch sends to CAPTAIN CLEGGS<br>His humble compliments, and begs<br>He'll join him down below;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;We've pleasant homes below the sea -<br>Besides, if CAPTAIN CLEGGS should be<br>(As our advices say)<br>A judge of Mermaids, he will find<br>Our lady-fish of every kind<br>Inspection will repay.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Good CAPEL sent a kind reply,<br>For CAPEL thought he could descry<br>An admirable plan<br>To study all their ways and laws -<br>(But not their lady-fish, because<br>He was a married man).</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Merman sank - the Captain too<br>Jumped overboard, and dropped from view<br>Like stone from catapult;<br>And when he reached the Merman's lair,<br>He certainly was welcomed there,<br>But, ah! with what result?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They didn't let him learn their law,<br>Or make a note of what he saw,<br>Or interesting mem.:<br>The lady-fish he couldn't find,<br>But that, of course, he didn't mind -<br>He didn't come for them.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For though, when CAPTAIN CAPEL sank,<br>The Mermen drawn in double rank<br>Gave him a hearty hail,<br>Yet when secure of CAPTAIN CLEGGS,<br>They cut off both his lovely legs,<br>And gave him SUCH a tail!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When CAPTAIN CLEGGS returned aboard,<br>His blithesome crew convulsive roar'd,<br>To see him altered so.<br>The Admiralty did insist<br>That he upon the Half-pay List<br>Immediately should go.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In vain declared the poor old salt,<br>&quot;It's my misfortune - not my fault,&quot;<br>With tear and trembling lip -<br>In vain poor CAPEL begged and begged.<br>&quot;A man must be completely legged<br>Who rules a British ship.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So spake the stern First Lord aloud -<br>He was a wag, though very proud,<br>And much rejoiced to say,<br>&quot;You're only half a captain now -<br>And so, my worthy friend, I vow<br>You'll only get half-pay!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=William+Schwenck+Gilbert">William Schwenck Gilbert</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=538997" data-title="The Captain and the Mermaids de William Schwenck Gilbert" data-description="I SING a legend of the sea,
So hard-a-port upon your lee!
A ship on starboard tack!
She's bound upon a private cruise -
(This is the kind of spice I use
To give a salt-sea smack).

Behold, on every afternoon
(Save in a gale or strong Monsoon)
Grea..."></div>
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