Melodies

I
There was an old farmer of Readall,
Who made holes in his face with a needle,
Then went far deeper in
Than to pierce through the skin,
And yet strange to say he was made beadle.

II
There was an eccentric old drapper,
Who wore a hat made of brown paper,
It went up to a point,
Yet it looked out of joint,
The cause of which he said was "vapour".

III
There was once a young man of Oporta,
Who daily got shorter and shorter,
The reason he said
Was the hod on his head,
Which was filled with the heaviest mortar.

His siter, named Lucy O'Finner,
Grew constantly thinner and thinner;
The reason was plain,
She slept out in the rain,
And was never allowed any dinner.

Lewis Carroll, 1845