Explore "Mulga Bill's Bicycle" by Andrew Barton Paterson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze; / He turned away the good old horse that served him many days; / He dressed himself in cycling clothes, resplendent to be seen; / He hurried off to town and bought a shining new machine; / And as he wheeled it through the door, with air of lordly pride, / The grinning shop assistant said, 'Excuse me, can you ride?'
'See, here, young man,' said Mulga Bill, 'from Walgett to the sea, / From Conroy's Gap to Castlereagh, there's none can ride like me. / I'm good all round at everything, as everybody knows, / Although I'm not the one to talk -- I HATE a man that blows. / But riding is my special gift, my chiefest, sole delight; / Just ask a wild duck can it swim, a wild cat can it fight. / There's nothing clothed in hair or hide, or built of flesh or steel, / There's nothing walks or jumps, or runs, on axle, hoof, or wheel, / But what I'll sit, while hide will hold and girths and straps are tight: / I'll ride this here two-wheeled concern right straight away at sight.'