THE WIZARD FINN
As I suppose, you all have heard
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board,
I can tell you that is so.
I’ve sailed with one and I ought to know:
For it is true, upon my word,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
Eric Jansen was his name,
And from Christián’ he came;
A seemly man all for to see,
But devil a bit the man for me:
For it is true, as all have heard,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
From the hour he joined the ship,
All went wrong in all the trip;
’Twas nothing but swear and growl and groan,
And the weather was just the devil’s own:
You may reckon it all absurd,
But there’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
Our grub was spoiled from that first hour,
Except the vinegar all was sour;
All you heard was Lubber! and Liar!
And everything hot except the fire:
For it is true, as all accord,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
For as the doctors all do know,
A Finn has fins between each toe:
He is web-footed like a duck;
Which is the cause of his bad luck:
For it is true, as I averred,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
And when at last it got so bad,
That master and men were nigh gone mad,
A rummerin’ whisper did begin
That ’twas all along of this here Finn:
For it is true, and on re-córd
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
And the long and short of this debate
Was that one night our second mate,
Bein’ as mad as a man might be,
Pitched Eric Jansen into the sea:
For it is true, unless I’ve erred,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
When all at once around there came
Over the sea a greenish flame,
And the biggest whale I ever spied,
Rose up by Eric Jansen’s side:
For it is true, as you may’ve inferred,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
And the Finn he got upon the whale,
And off in the flame we saw them sail;
Hearing a song as they fell behind,
Like women singing with the wind:
For it is true, as all have concurred,
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
Off from the ship and off the shore,
And Eric Jansen we saw no more;
But from that hour, aboard that ship,
All went well for the rest of the trip:
For it is true, upon my word,
As you and I have often heard,
People may say it’s all absurd,
And yet it holds as I averred,
And bein’ a fact it’s on recórd,
Unless the best of men have erred,
As you may truly have inferred,
In which observers have concurred:
There’s no good luck with a Finn on board.
“That story of the Finn,” said one to Brown,
“Is of the kind which hev been salted down,
Which is the reason, I suppose, why you
Take such a lot of pains to prove it’s true.
When tales are c’rect in all their fitnesses,
There ain’t no need of forty witnesses,
Nor one at all I guess, but that’s enough;
Now listen to the song of ‘Charley Buff,’
Who always said, ‘I am a truthful man:’ ”
He polished off his drink and thus began: