THE GOOSE WITH THE GOLDEN EGGS 



There are tons of hay uneaten and lying in the mow ; 



Is the meadow grass worth cutting at the price it fetches now ? 



The towns are full of loafing men who used to earn their bread, 



All idle since we farmers knocked fox-hunting on the head. 



The blacksmith's in the workhouse, and the saddler's ruined, too ; 



We little thought all this would come of what we meant to do. 



Who lamed the nags, and maimed the men, and rolled them in the mire, 

 And killed the goose with golden eggs with thrice-accursed wire. 



The whippers-in are in " the House," the huntsman's breaking stones, 

 The doctor's lost the goodly job of setting sportsmen's bones. 

 While us as stays must pay the rates — there's no one else to pay — 

 It's twice as hard upon the rest now they have gone away. 

 And Parson says there's no one now to help the poor in need. 

 Dal ! All the World looks black at us — the men as done the deed, 



As lamed the nags, and maimed the men, and rolled them in the mire. 



And killed the goose with golden eggs with thrice-accursed wire. 



The Shires are quite a desert now the Quality has fled ; 



Their homes are still and silent as the dwellings of the dead. 



There seems a blight upon the land ; accursed be the day 



That spoilt their sport, that robbed the land, and drove their wealth away 



When the gold they spent with us went with them across the sea. 



Ah, well, t'was our own doing ; that's as plain as plain can be, 



Who lamed the nags and maimed the men, and rolled them m the mire. 



And killed the goose with golden eggs with thrice-accursed wire. 



Where are those stalwart riders ? Where those forms of winsome grace ? 



Gone ? Ay, and gone forever ! Who will fill the vacant place ? 



They're off to Pau and Zanzibar, to Paris and Peru, 



To Nice and California ; there was nothmg else to do. 



You can't expect a sportmg race to stay when sport is dead ; 



They've taken flight, and with them, too. Prosperity has fled. 



IVe mangled them, and tangled them, and rolled them in the mire, 

 And killed the goose with golden eggs with thrice-accursed wire. 



196 



