Leadership

Samstag, 2. April 2011 - 20:06

Fit the Second
THE BELLMAN’S SPEECH

089    The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies–
090        Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
091    Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,
092        The moment one looked in his face!

093    He had bought a large map representing the sea,
094        Without the least vestige of land:
095    And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
096        A map they could all understand.

097    “What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
098        Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
099    So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
100        “They are merely conventional signs!

101    “Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
102        But we’ve got our brave Captain to thank:
103    (So the crew would protest) “that he’s bought us the best–
104        A perfect and absolute blank!”

105    This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out
106        That the Captain they trusted so well
107    Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
108        And that was to tingle his bell.

109    He was thoughtful and grave–but the orders he gave
110        Were enough to bewilder a crew.
111    When he cried “Steer to starboard, but keep her headlarboard!”
112        What on earth was the helmsman to do?

113    Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes:
114        A thing, as the Bellman remarked,
115    That frequently happens in tropical climes,
116        When a vessel is, so to speak, “snarked.”

117    But the principal failing occurred in the sailing,
118        And the Bellman, perplexed and distressed,
119    Said he had hoped, at least, when the wind blew due East,
120        That the ship would not travel due West!

121    But the danger was past–they had landed at last,
122        With their boxes, portmanteaus, and bags:
123    Yet at first sight the crew were not pleased with the view,
124        Which consisted of chasms and crags.

125    The Bellman perceived that their spirits were low,
126        And repeated in musical tone
127    Some jokes he had kept for a season of woe–
128        But the crew would do nothing but groan.

129    He served out some grog with a liberal hand,
130        And bade them sit down on the beach:
131    And they could not but own that their Captain looked grand,
132        As he stood and delivered his speech.

133    “Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears!”
134        (They were all of them fond of quotations:
135    So they drank to his health, and they gave him three cheers,
136        While he served out additional rations).

137    “We have sailed many months, we have sailed many weeks,
138        (Four weeks to the month you may mark),
139    But never as yet (’tis your Captain who speaks)
140        Have we caught the least glimpse of a Snark!

141    “We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
142        (Seven days to the week I allow),
143    But a Snark, on the which we might lovingly gaze,
144        We have never beheld till now!

145    “Come, listen, my men, while I tell you again
146        The five unmistakable marks
147    By which you may know, wheresoever you go,
148        The warranted genuine Snarks.

149    “Let us take them in order. The first is the taste,
150        Which is meagre and hollow, but crisp:
151    Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist,
152        With a flavour of Will-o’-the-wisp.

153    “Its habit of getting up late you’ll agree
154        That it carries too far, when I say
155    That it frequently breakfasts at five-o’clock tea,
156        And dines on the following day.

157    “The third is its slowness in taking a jest.
158        Should you happen to venture on one,
159    It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:
160        And it always looks grave at a pun.

161    “The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines,
162        Which is constantly carries about,
163    And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes–
164        A sentiment open to doubt.

165    “The fifth is ambition. It next will be right
166        To describe each particular batch:
167    Distinguishing those that have feathers, and bite,
168        And those that have whiskers, and scratch.

169    “For, although common Snarks do no manner of harm,
170        Yet, I feel it my duty to say,
171    Some are Boojums–” The Bellman broke off in alarm,
172        For the Baker had fainted away.

aus: Lewis Carroll und Henry Holiday, The Hunting of the Snark, 1876


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