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O the night was dark and the night was late, / And the robbers came to rob him; / And they picked the locks of his palace-gate, / The robbers that came to rob him -- / They picked the locks of his palace-gate, / Seized his jewels and gems of state, / His coffers of gold and his priceless plate, -- / The robbers that came to rob him.
But loud laughed he in the morning red! -- / For of what had the robbers robbed him? -- / Ho! hidden safe, as he slept in bed, / When the robbers came to rob him, -- / They robbed him not of a golden shred / Of the childish dreams in his wise old head -- / "And they're welcome to all things else," he said, / When the robbers came to rob him.