The Woodlouse

The Woodlouse

Original Text
Edith L. M. King, Country Rhymes for Children (Oxford: B. H. Blackwell, 1909): 16-17. 011650.e.42 British Library
1The woodlouse looks as if he were
2    A mediæval knight,
3Who's found it wiser not to keep
4    His armour very bright.
5Experience has taught him, too,
6    To curl up like a pill
7When danger seems to threaten him,
8    And then keep very still.
9This trick has often been the means
10    Of saving him from hurt;
11Because his foes mistake him for
12    A little lump of dirt.
13Just as the enemy must find
14    Our soldiers hard to see
15When they are lying on the ground
16    All clad in dull khakí.

Notes

1] woodlouse: a louse found in old wood or under stones and characteristically rolling itself up into a ball. Back to Line
16] khakí: from the Urdu word 'dusty', dull yellow-brown cloth used in uniforms of British troops in South Africa in 1899. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1909
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Rhyme
abcb