THE MAGIC MAN
Be careful, children, lest some day
The Magic Man should come your way.
’TIS very naughty for a child
To try to hang about
And overhear what people say,
And find their secrets out.
Our James was such a child as that.
He loved to overhear
The very things he knew were not
Intended for his ear.
The older people often said,
“Now James, please run away.
You’re always, always hanging round
To hear what we may say.”
Once mother asked some ladies in
To drink a cup of tea,
And nurse said, “James, don’t go downstairs;
Come in the room with me.”
“I want to hear them talk,” said James.
“I like to listen, too.”
“But that’s exactly what mamma
Has told you not to do.”
“I’ll stay here, anyway,” said James,
And sat down on the stair,
And when nurse found he would not move
She went and left him there.
“And now she’s gone, I’ll creep downstairs
Into the hall,” thought he,
“And listen at the parlor door,
I’m sure no one will see.”
But James had hardly risen up
Before, all silently,
Some one came stealing down the hall
As soft as soft could be.
And then James felt that somebody
Had caught him by each ear,
“Ho!” cried a voice, “so you’re the boy
Who always wants to hear.”
Quite suddenly he felt his ears
Begin to stretch and spread.
Until, like any elephant’s
They stood out from his head.
“Let go!” cried James, “Let go, I say!
Take care what you’re about!”
And then the hands had set him free,
And quick he turned about.
He peered around with frightened eyes.
No one at all was there,—
Only the clock that said tick-tock,
And shadows on the stair.
Into the nursery quick he ran,
“Oh, nursie! Only see!
Somebody came and stretched my ears
And scared me terribly.”
Nurse looked at him and gave a cry.
“Oh James! What shall we do!
It must have been the Magic Man
Who did this thing to you.
“I know when children misbehave
He often comes about,
And punishes their naughty ways
If he can find them out.”
And now mamma is called in haste.
She comes, and “Oh!” cries she,
“Whatever’s happened to your ears?
They are a sight to see!”
James tells her all the doleful tale,
But ah, ’tis very plain
The only thing is just to wait
And hope they’ll shrink again.
“If you are very patient, James,
And if you will be good,
Perhaps some day your ears once more
Will look the way they should.”
Now James is different indeed,
For ever since that day
He’s never wished to overhear
What other people say,
And if a secret’s being told
He runs away, or else he stuffs
A finger in each ear.
His ears are shrinking day by day,
And soon I hope we’ll see
They are as small as any lad
Could wish his ears to be.