It was a soulful song he sung,
A doleful song sang he,
For in the sun her body swung
High on the gallows' tree.
The loathsome vultures swooped among
The shadows hungrily,
As though awaiting for the dung
That swayed there horribly.
Then as a distant church bell rung
Slowly, peacefully,
Out through the night a mad cry flung
Red echoes suddenly.
A mad cry, then the silence clung
O'er sky and shore and sea;
He dead below, and she that hung
High on the gallows' tree.
Chapter XXXVIII
"Oh, listen to the mocking bird!" cried the crustacean.
"Ha, ha!" laughed the crinoid, "that is only a mock turtle."
"Oh H2O!" snorted the good red herring, "you talk like a fish out of water."
"She has a necklace of shark's teeth," whispered the jealous water baby.