I’m riskiest of riskers,
But, blow my grizzled whiskers!’
I cried, ‘May jackals gnaw my bones if now Munchausen fails!’
“By night the lions roared at us. By day the simoons came
And swept across our caravan in sandy clouds of flame;
But naught dismayed our temper, or
The genial Afric emperor
Had missed my handsome greeting, to his long-abiding shame.
“The people of the Mountains of the Moon I wined and dined.
I reigned at Gristariska when His Majesty declined.