Tit for tat | Have you been catching of fish, Tom Noddy?

by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956)

Tit for tat

Language: English

Our translations: CAT FRE GER

Have you been catching [of]¹ fish, Tom Noddy? 
  Have you snared a weeping hare? 
Have you whistled "No Nunny" and gunned a poor bunny,
  Or blinded a bird of the air? 

Have you trod like a murderer through the green woods,
  Through the dewy deep dingles and glooms,
While every small creature screamed shrill to Dame Nature
  "He comes - and he comes!"? 

Wonder I very much do, Tom Noddy,
  If ever, when [you are a-roam]²,
An Ogre from space will stoop a lean face,
  And lug you home: 

Lug you home over his fence, Tom Noddy,
  Of thorn-sticks nine yards high,
With your bent knees strung round his old iron gun
  And your head a dan-dangling by: 

And hang you up stiff on a hook, Tom Noddy,
  From a stone-cold pantry shelf,
Whence your eyes will glare in an empty stare,
  Till [you're]³ cooked yourself!

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• B. Britten

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Britten.
² Britten: "off you roam"
³ Britten: "you are"

Text Authorship:

by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Tit for tat", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 5. Beasts, no. 7, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Tit for tat", published 1969 [ voice and piano ], from Tit for tat, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Freda Mary Swain (1902 - 1985), "Tit for tat", 1949-50 [ baritone and piano ], from From "Peacock Pie" [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 149