By Edward Lear
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I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’
II
Pussy said to the Owl, ‘You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?’
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
III
‘Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?’ Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
–
This romantic “nonsense” by Edward Lear is a classic of children’s literature. Its lilting rhythm has a wonderful calming effect on the senses. It even works on crying babies!
Read by Natasha Lee Lewis. Duration 2.35

69 Comments
i think this poem is wonderful, please can u make more because my class luv ur stories
Kimberley from Portmore Jamaica loves “The Owl and the Pussycat”
i love this peom it lets me laugh, when I was sad. I share it with my class mates in jamaica, it was fun. Could you have a part 2 to this peom, please.
Hello Laura and Kimberley,
I’m really glad you like the “Owl and the Pussycat”. Unfortunately, I don’t think Edward Lear wrote a “Part Two”. We will do another poem soon, and hope you like it as much.
Bertie
i love you and the storys and whont more storys for me and my class
nice,good reading and want some more.
i iove you and your storys and some more.
For those of you who like the Owl & the Pussycat, Natasha will be reading more poems soon.
edmund learunfortunatly wrote part of part 2 of the owl and the pussy cat.lear never finished it..the gist of it was the cat died and their mixed brood he refers to is left unfinished.we have been spared this desecration by his timely death..thank you
I really like your page and the poem. In fact I have illustrated this beautiful poem as well as others. I would like to share these images with you. Please visit my page, “Where The Bong Tree Grows”. The Art of J.D.Gibson
Hi J.D,
I can’t find your website “where the Bong Tree Grows” could you let us have the URL address?
I’m sorry about that. I had to change some things around, but I think it’s OK now. The URL is: http//jdgibsonart.blogspot.com
I’m new here but I think I’m getting the hang of it. Let me know when you get there.
Thanks, J.D.
P.S. I love your page!
JD - I still can’t find your site. Please just drop an email, Bertie@storynory.com and let’s get in touch.
hi! i am lynn. i really think the poem was GREAT! have you got more romantic poems or stories or articles?
it was ok but need to make it fun
i like this poem very much i love poems very muchhhhhhhh
i love it atacha
this is a great poem!!!!! my favourite!!!
this is agreat story for children!!!!!!!!!!!
hey babes lovin this poem its fab. wooooooooooo hhhhhoooooooooooooo . rock on pems yayyyy
he
thank u
good
This poem makes senes
I love this poem
that
no arig
I liked the part when they danced by the light of the moon
does anyone know if a bong tree is real and what it looks like its for an animation
it’s very exciting and suitable to children
I love it
I
think the owl and the pussy cat is complete nonsense
I thought the owl and the pussy cat was very funny
I love it because it is a real twist in nature.
I love it.it is realy funny.I love the discribing of the boat and ilike the word bong tree.
The discription is great its funny to,and I think Edward Lear had a good imagination.
The story was alright and funny to,and i liked it.
The owl and the pussy cat is a great poem because its very funny and the discription is great.
I like it because its very funny and it has alot of describing words in it and it has very good text in, and it is suitable for all style of age.
I like it because it is funny and good for little children
It is very desciptive?
It is very descriptive?
It is very funny and very descriptive the nonsense words are very weird
I love the owl and the pussycat because the nonsense words make it funny tied in with the rhythm.Also it has funny words like Bong-Tree and Piggy-Wig
I liked this poem because the nonsence rhymes make it good for children and adults to read! Also it has funny words to intreast young readers like ‘bong-tree’
I loved the owl and the pussycat because of the nonsese word and the rhymic pattern.Also I liked the
words liked Bong-Tree and Piggy-Wig.
i think it is very relaxing also very funny,very also liked the rhymes at he start they were cool.
I think it was a tounge-tying twister of rhyming words and i think it is also very funny.
I love,it because it has some wonderful adjectives and nonsence.
I like the poam because it is a nonsence and funny!
I think it is very funny I like the story.
I realy liked the poem because it has a good rythme and I the use of rhyming
i like the poem because it is funny and i like the the word piggy wig and bong trees
I think it is very funny it is also suitable for children. I also like the charactors and the way you set the story out!
I love this poem I is a good story aswell I think this would make a good story for children learning to read.
it was great it was mega funny
it was a realy funny
nonsense poem
I liked the owl and the pussycat it was very funny.
we think it is very romantic poem and we liked the word piggy-wig!
We like the poem because we like the word Bong tree and it is very nonsense
this poem is a fuuny one
the owl and the pussycat is a great discripted poem and is a nonsence poem and is really got alout of ryming words.
I think this poem is cool
my students loved this rhyme.
very very good
That’s perfect.
I really love it.
But, I don’t know why the audio part isn’t complete.
Hi Arash
For some reason the audio gets stuck sometimes. If you are still having trouble, please try our back up audio file here
http://storynory.com/audio/owlpussycat.mp3
i like your vedio!
it has a funny tidle!
IT WAS GRRATE.
it’s a great poem, we are doing it as a project in our calligiaphy class with ilustrations of the characters.