The Owl and the Pussycat
England Lyrics
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!"
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.
"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.
History and Meaning
The Owl and the Pussycat is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, an English artist, illustrator, and poet well-known for his literary nonsense and limericks. First published in 1870 in the American magazine "Our Young Folks" and subsequently in his 1871 collection "Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets," it remains one of Lear's most cherished and enduring works. Lear penned the poem for Janet Symonds, the three-year-old daughter of his friend and fellow writer John Addington Symonds. The whimsical tale narrates the romantic journey of an owl and a pussycat who fall in love, set sail in a pea-green boat with honey and money, marry in the land where the imaginary "bong-tree" grows (purchasing a ring from a Pig), and dance by the light of the moon, creating a fantastical, dreamlike environment that exemplifies Victorian-era nonsense verse.