A Penguin

A Penguin

THE Pen-guin sits up-on the shore
And loves the lit-tle fish to bore;
He has one en-er-vat-ing joke
That would a very Saint provoke:
"The Pen-guin's might-i-er than the sword-fish";
He tells this dai-ly to the bored fish,
Un-til they are so weak, they float
With-out re-sis-tance down his throat.

Oliver Herford(1863-1935)

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There are a great variety of write ups on E2 about how well the Linux users enjoy their good computer operating system. You may have even gathered that the penguin is the symbol of the Linux system.

Oliver Herford, who wrote this a century ago, could not have foretold that this poem could become a low pun in this technological age. He probably knew, though, that he would always find an enduring audience.

In this little piece Herford adopted it for A Child's Primer of Natural History. The running joke of his original intentions was the odd hyphenization of the lyrics supposedly intended by the author of A Child's Primer of Natural Hisrory to make all this sillyand tedious business for a child to read.

This poem is past copyright and in public domain.

Sources:

Public domain text taken from
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2001/herford0101.html

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CST Approved