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The Duck and the Kangaroo
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Natasha’s reading of The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear is an old favourite on Storynory. And this verse, about an equally unlikely match – a Duck and a Kangaroo – is the follow-up.
If a duck married a kangaroo, their children might be duck-billed platypuses. Well there’s a thought that might or might not have occurred to Edward Lear when he published his Nonsense Songs, Stories Botany and Alphabets, in 1871. Like the owl and the pussycat, the two go off traveling together, though Lear doesn’t say whether or not these two get married.
Pictures by Lear and slightly later ones by William Foster can be viewed here or as a slide show here.
Read by Natasha. Duration 4.12
THE DUCK AND THE KANGAROO.
I.
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,
“Good gracious! how you hop Over the fields, and the water too,
As if you never would stop! My life is a bore in this nasty pond;
And I long to go out in the world beyond:
I wish I could hop like you,” Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.
II.
“Please give me a ride on your back,”
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo: “I would sit quite still, and say nothing but ‘Quack’
The whole of the long day through; And we ‘d go the Dee, and the Jelly Bo Lee,
Over the land, and over the sea:
Please take me a ride! oh, do!” Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.
The Duck and the Kangaroo
III.
Said the Kangaroo to the Duck,
“This requires some little reflection. Perhaps, on the whole, it might bring me luck;
And there seems but one objection; Which is, if you’ll let me speak so bold,
Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,
And would probably give me the roo- Matiz,” said the Kangaroo.
IV.
Said the Duck, “As I sate on the rocks,
I have thought over that completely; And I bought four pairs of worsted socks,
Which fit my web-feet neatly; And, to keep out the cold, I’ve bought a cloak;
And every day a cigar I’ll smoke;
All to follow my own dear true Love of a Kangaroo.”
V.
Said the Kangaroo, “I’m ready,
All in the moonlight pale; But to balance me well, dear Duck, sit steady,
And quite at the end of my tail.”
The Duck and the Kangaroo
So away they went with a hop and a bound;
And they hopped the whole world three times round.
And who so happy, oh! who, As the Duck and the Kangaroo?
The Duck and the Kangaroo
We draw on the Victorian poets whose verse is still fresh and packed with nonsense, morals, and atmospherics.
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Hello
Yes this is a funny poem in nonsense verse. The conversation between the characters of the Duck and the Kangaroo is quite unusual. You may also like ‘The Table and The Chair’ and the longer poem ‘The Jumbelies’.
Thanks for listening
Bye Bye
N *
i love this poem. so sweeeeet
so nice poem………………..
excellent
very good did i make poem like this ?
Hello
Thank you for your comment
The Duck and The Kangroo is a funny nonsense poem
There is the Table & The Chair also that is also worth reading. They are both poem with two characters in a dialogue.
Thanks for listening
N *
I love Edward Lear ! The master of nonsense..
Very good citation..
v gud
Hello
This is a very good poem all the way from Australia
Thank you for listening
Bye Bye
N *
Very good poem. Liked the story
why does it always have to end with duck and the kangaroo
this poem is cool & funny& ilike it.
My grand~daughters loved it as we looked at the Kangaroo for the letter K. Even made hand puppets. Thanks.
i like yhis pome
I like it .
very good
that is the cool peom i ever heard and funny it made me cry
It’s nice.
this is rally good
i love this book!!!
I LOVE poem so much
nice story
Ha Ha Ha
I Love It
u all are lozers!!!
i is japanese
hi
i like the rymes in this poem and i like that the duck looks up to the kangaroo as a leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
i like the nonsense
bgyrtuturtuirt truyrui
i love you story time
I LOVE THIS POEM IT IS THE BOMBIETST BOMB EVA..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE IT 2 !!!!!!
I think it is kind off cool
good
HA HA HA
hoho
i love you