The Jabberwock
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxsome foe he sought.
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Carroll provided this literal English translation of the first and last stanzas:
"It was evening and the smooth active badgers were scratching and boring holes in the hillside; all unhappy were the parrots; and the grave turtles squeaked out."
There were probably sundials on the top of the hill and the borogoves were afraid that their nests would be undermined. The hill was probably full of the nests of raths, which ran out, sqeaking with fear on hearing the toves scratching outside. This is an obscure, but yet deeply affecting relic of ancient Poetry.
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Etymology
- Brillig
- (derived from the verb to bryl or broil), the time of broiling dinner, i.e., the close of the afternoon.
- Slithy
- (compounded of slimy and lithe), smooth and active.
- Tove
- A species of badger. They had smooth white hair, long hind legs and short horns like a stag; lived chiefly on cheese.
- Gyre
- verb (derived from gyaour or giaour, 'a dog').To scratch like a dog.
- Gymble
- (whence gimblet) To screw out holes in anything.
- Wabe
- (derived from the verb to swab or soak), the side of a hill (from its being soaked by the rain).
- Mimsy
- (whence mimserable and miserable). Unhappy.
- Borogove
- an extinct kind of Parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, and made their nests under sundials: lived on veal.
- Mome
- (hence solemome, solemone and solemn) Grave.
- Rath
- A species of land turtle. Head erect; mouth like a shark, forelegs curved out so that the animal walked on its knees; smooth green body; lived on swallows and oysters.
- Outgrabe
- past tense of the verb to outgribe. (It is connected with old verb to grike, or shrike from which are derived shriek and creak) Squeaked.
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