RPO -- James Whitcomb Riley : The Bumblebee

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James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

The Bumblebee

1You better not fool with a Bumblebee! --

2Ef you don't think they can sting -- you'll see!

3They're lazy to look at, an' kind o' go

4Buzzin' an' bummin' aroun' so slow,

5An' ac' so slouchy an' all fagged out,

6Danglin' their legs as they drone about

7The hollyhawks 'at they can't climb in

8'Ithout ist a-tumble-un out ag'in!

9Wunst I watched one climb clean 'way

10In a jimson-blossom, I did, one day, --

11An' I ist grabbed it -- an' nen let go --

12An' "Ooh-ooh! Honey! I told ye so!"

13Says The Raggedy Man; an' he ist run

14An' pullt out the stinger, an' don't laugh none,

15An' says: "They has be'n folks, I guess,

16'At thought I wuz predjudust, more er less, --

17Yit I still muntain 'at a Bumblebee

18Wears out his welcome too quick fer me!"

Notes

5] ac': act.
slouchy an' all fagged out: slumping and exhausted.

8] Unless ("without') just tumbling out again.

9] Wunst: once.

10] jimson-blossom: jimsonweed, a poisonous member of the nightshade family with big trumpet-like flowers.

11] nen: then.

13] The Raggedy Man: one of Riley's Hoosier characters, the helping hand who dresses poorly but entertains the children wisely and kindly.

17] muntain: maintain.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: James Whitcomb Riley, Complete Works, Memorial edn. in 10 vols. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1916): VI, 1423. PS 2700 F16 Robarts Library.
First publication date: 1890
Publication date note: Rhymes of Childhood (1890)
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1998.
Recent editing: 2:2002/1/16

Form: couplets

Other poems by James Whitcomb Riley