Explore "Ben Apfelgarten" by Eugene Field on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
There was a certain gentleman, Ben Apfelgarten called, / Who lived way off in Germany a many years ago, / And he was very fortunate in being very bald / And so was very happy he was so. / He warbled all the day / Such songs as only they / Who are very, very circumspect and very happy may; / The people wondered why, / As the years went gliding by, / They never heard him once complain or even heave a sigh!
The women of the province fell in love with genial Ben, / Till (may be you can fancy it) the dickens was to pay / Among the callow students and the sober-minded men -- / With the women-folk a-cuttin' up that way! / Why, they gave him turbans red / To adorn his hairless head, / And knitted jaunty nightcaps to protect him when abed! / In vain the rest demurred -- / Not a single chiding word / Those ladies deigned to tolerate -- remonstrance was absurd!