2 
THE SEA-SERPENT. 
I promise you here, and I give you my word, 
that though some of the scenes may seem vast¬ 
ly absurd, and you smile, — but perhaps in the 
midst of your grin, if you ’re fishing, his Snake- 
ship will just suck you in ; or perchance, sitting 
safe on a sea-beaten rock, and of such beasts 
as Sea-Serpents making a mock, and telling the 
ladies who sit by your side, that o’er the blue 
waves you have sailed far and wide, full many 
strange sights in the ocean have seen, — u But Sea 
Serpents, —bless me ! I’m not quite so green ! 
Pontoppidan , 1 skippers, may say what they please; 
when they prove it, I ’ll own that the moon 
is green cheese,” — then just starting up from 
that wave rolling in, you see first the back 
and then a great fin. O horror of horrors ! with 
red glaring eyes, his head and some yards of his 
body will rise, and seize you, and shake you, his 
fangs taste your gore, while you shriek, and the 
aid of the ladies implore, and convulsively grasp 
at the rocks and the shore ; but he’s got you ; 
with joy he is wagging his tail; he holds you aloft; 
