I

              I.

This is the sorrowful story
 Told when the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk together
 Holding their neighbours' tails: –

Эти печальные были
Повторяют при свете звезд
Обезьяны, чинно гуляя,
Взявши друг друга за хвост:

"Our fathers lived in the forest,
 Foolish people were they,
They went down to the cornland
 To teach the farmers to play.

«В лесу наши предки жили,
Вольный род обезьян.
Они спустились на пашню
Учить забавам крестьян.

"Our fathers frisked in the millet,
 Our fathers skipped in the wheat,
Our fathers hung from the branches,
 Our fathers danced in the street.

Они резвились в просе,
Скакали в пшенице густой,
Качались на гибких ветках,
Плясали по мостовой.

"Then came the terrible farmers,
 Nothing of play they knew,
Only... they caught our fathers
 And set them to labour too!

Но пришли ужасные люди,
Не знавшие игр никаких,
Наших предков поймали
И работать заставили их.

"Set them to work in the cornland
 With ploughs and sickles and flails,
Put them in mud-walled prisons
 And – cut off their beautiful tails!

Тяжко трудиться на пашне,
С косой и серпом вдоль борозд,
Заперли в глиняных тюрьмах,
Отрезали пышный хвост.

"Now, we can watch our fathers,
 Sullen and bowed and old,
Stooping over the millet,
 Sharing the silly mould,

Мы видим наших предков,
Сгорбленных, старых и злых,
Размалывающих просо,
Пашущих землю в пыли,

"Driving a foolish furrow,
 Mending a muddy yoke,
Sleeping in mud-walled prisons,
 Steeping their food in smoke.

Роющих глупые гряды,
Вечно с ярмом худым,
Спящих в глиняных тюрьмах,
С пищей мешающих дым.

"We may not speak to our fathers,
 For if the farmers knew
They would come up to the forest
 And set us to labour too."

Говорить с ними мы не смеем —
Люди подслушают нас,
В чаще лесной разыщут,
Заставят работать тотчас».

This is the horrible story
 Told as the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk together
 Holding their kinsmen's tails.

Эти ужасные были
Повторяют при свете звезд
Обезьяны, чинно гуляя,
Взявши друг друга за хвост.

              II

              II.

'Twas when the rain fell steady an' the Ark was pitched an' ready,
 That Noah got his orders for to take the bastes below;
He dragged them all together by the horn an' hide an' feather,
 An' all excipt the Donkey was agreeable to go.

Thin Noah spoke him fairly, thin talked to him sevarely,
 An' thin he cursed him squarely to the glory av the Lord: –
"Divil take the ass that bred you, and the greater ass that fed you –
 Divil go wid you, ye spalpeen!" an' the Donkey went aboard.

But the wind was always failin', an' 'twas most onaisy sailin',
 An' the ladies in the cabin couldn't stand the stable air;
An' the bastes betwuxt the hatches, they tuk an' died in batches,
 Till Noah said: – "There's wan av us that hasn't paid his fare!"

For he heard a flusteration 'mid the bastes av all creation –
 The trumpetin' av elephints an' bellowin' av whales;
An' he saw forninst the windy whin he wint to stop the shindy
 The Divil wid a stable-fork bedivillin' their tails.

The Divil cursed outrageous, but Noah said umbrageous: –
 "To what am I indebted for this tenant-right invasion?"
An' the Divil gave for answer: – "Evict me if you can, sir,
 For I came in wid the Donkey – on Your Honour's invitation."