William Ellery Leonard

The Swan and the Goose

A rich man bought a Swan and a Goose—

That for song, and this for use.

It chanced his simple-minded cook

One night the Swan for Goose mistook.


But in the dark about to chop

The Swan in two above the crop,

He heard the lyric note, and stayed

The action of the fatal blade.

And thus we see a proper tune

Is sometimes very opportune.