My little boy asked me thus, once on a time,
Moreover, he task'd me to tell him in rhyme;
Anon at the word there first came one daughter.
And then came another to second and third
The request of their brother, and hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore, with its rush and its roar,
As many a time they had seen it before.
So I told them in rhyme, for of rhymes I had store.
And 'twas my vocation that thus I should sing.
Because I was laureate to them and the king.