THE CUNNING WOMAN
                    by W. S. Gilbert


ON all Arcadia's sunny plain,
     On all Arcadia's hill,
None were so blithe as BILL and JANE, 
     So blithe as JANE and BILL. 

No social earthquake e'er occurred
     To rack their common mind:
To them a Panic was a word--
     A Crisis, empty wind.

No Stock Exchange disturbed the lad
     With overwhelming shocks-
BILL ploughed with all the shares he had,
     JANE planted all her stocks.

And learn in what a simple way 
     Their pleasures they enhanced--
JANE danced like any lamb all day, 
     BILL piped as well as danced. 

Surrounded by a twittling crew, 
     Of linnet, lark, and thrush,
BILL treated his young lady to 
     This sentimental gush: 

"Oh, JANE, how true I am to you!
     How true you are to me!
And how we woo, and how we coo! 
     So fond a pair are we! 

"To think, dear JANE, that anyways, 
     Your chiefest end and aim
Is, one of these fine summer days, 
     To bear my humble name!" 

Quoth JANE, "Well, as you put the case, 
     I'm true enough, no doubt,
But then, you see, in this here place 
     There's none to cut you out. 

"But, oh! if anybody came-- 
     A Lord or any such--
I do not think your humble name 
     Would fascinate me much. 

"For though your mates, you often boast, 
     You distance out-and-out; 
Still, in the abstract, you're a most 
     Uncompromising lout!"

Poor BILL, he gave a heavy sigh, 
     He tried in vain to speak--
A fat tear started to each eye 
     And coursed adown each cheek. 

For, oh! right well in truth he knew 
     That very self-same day,
The LORD DE JACOB PILLALOO 
     Was coming there to stay! 

The LORD DE JACOB PILLALOO 
     All proper maidens shun--
He loves all women, it is true, 
     But never marries one. 

Now JANE, with all her mad self-will, 
     Was no coquette--oh no! 
She really loved her faithful BILL, 
     And thus she tuned her woe: 

"Oh, willow, willow, o'er the lea!
     And willow once again!
The Peer will fall in love with me 
     Why wasn't I made plain?"

  *    *    *    *    *    *

A cunning woman lived hard by,
     A sorceressing dame,
MACCATACOMB DE SALMON-EYE
     Was her uncommon name. 

To her good JANE, with kindly yearn
     For BILL'S increasing pain,
Repaired in secrecy to learn
     How best to make her plain. 

"Oh, JANE," the worthy woman said,
     "This mystic phial keep,
And rub its liquor in your head
     Before you go to sleep. 

"When you awake next day, I trow,
     You'll look in form and hue
To others just as you do now-- 
     But not to PILLALOO!

"When you approach him, you will find 
     He'll think you coarse--unkempt--
And rudely bid you get behind, 
     With undisguised contempt." 

The LORD DE PILLALOO arrived 
     With his expensive train,
And when in state serenely hived, 
     He sent for BILL and JANE. 

"Oh, spare her, LORD OF PILLALOO!
     (Said BILL) if wed you be,
There's anything I'd rather do 
     Than flirt with LADY P."

The Lord he gazed in Jenny's eyes, 
     He looked her through and through: 
The cunning woman's prophecies 
     Were clearly coming true. 

LORD PILLALOO, the Rustic's Bane 
     (Bad person he, and proud),
He laughed Ha! Ha! at pretty JANE, 
     And sneered at her aloud!

He bade her get behind him then,
     And seek her mother's stye--
Yet to her native countrymen
     She was a fair as aye!

MACCATACOMB, continued green!
     Grow, SALMON-EYE, in might,
Except for you, there might have been
     The duce's own delight!