RANTER. i 7 



"A puppy? " I said, looking up with a smile, 

 While I thought of the ducklings and turkeys the while. 

 " Oh, come ; yes you will," said the huntsman again, 

 And then he discovered my wife in the lane ; 



At which he took off his new hat, with a bow, 

 And asked for the pigs and the Alderney cow. 

 He said she looked young for her age, did my wife, 

 Her figure was wonderful, too, for her life. 



Well, so it was settled : my wife with a laugh 

 Said she was not the one to be caught with such chaff ; 

 But she asked him inside the farmhouse all the same. 

 And gave him some ale, and was pleased that he came. 



The puppy became quite at home the first day ; 

 He looked upon life as a joke, and the way 

 He treated each action that came as a part 

 Of a great entertainment, made after his heart, 



Was comical to a degree. But the sight 

 Was to see him go round the farmyard the first night ; 

 He went for the ducks with a leap and a bound, 

 Falling head over heels on the side of the mound ; 



And then he discovered an elderly sow 



Fast asleep on her side (we expected a row). 



How quaintly he moved, and how gingerly, too ; 



He crept to her back, which quite hid him from view. 



