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Artful Anticks

Chapter 3: The Audacious Kitten.
By Oliver Herford
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About This Book

A collection of short, humorous poems and light fables that animate animals, children, and fairies to expose human foibles through playful rhyme and gentle irony. Pieces range from brief narrative verses to comic monologues and a short stage piece, typically concluding with a witty reversal or moral sting. Imagery moves between domestic detail and fanciful incident, and the poems vary in meter and length to keep tone brisk. Overall the work favors whimsical satire, clever wordplay, and anthropomorphic scenarios intended to amuse while lightly admonishing readers about pride, industry, and pretension.

The Audacious Kitten.

“Hurray!” cried the kitten, “Hurray!”
 As he merrily set the sails;
 “I sail o’er the ocean to-day
 To look at the Prince of Wales!”
“O kitten! O kitten!” I cried,
 “Why tempt the angry gales?”
 “I’m going,” the kitten replied,
 “To look at the Prince of Wales!
“I know what it is to get wet,
 I’ve tumbled full oft into pails
 And nearly been drowned—and yet
 I must look at the Prince of Wales!”
“O kitten!” I cried, “the Deep
 Is deeper than many pails!”
 Said the kitten,“I shall not sleep
 Till I’ve looked at the Prince of Wales!”
“O kitten! pause at the brink,
 And think of the sad sea tales.”
 “Ah, yes,” said the kitten, “but think,
 Oh, think of the Prince of Wales!”

“But, kitten!” I cried, dismayed,
 “If you live through the angry gales
 You know you will be afraid
 To look at the Prince of Wales!”
Said the kitten, “No such thing!
 Why should he make me wince?
 If ‘a Cat may look at a King,’
 A kitten may look at a Prince!”