"You can talk about yer sheep dorgs," said the man from Allan's Creek,
"But I know a dorg that simply knocked 'em bandy! --
Do whatever you would show him, and you'd hardly need to speak;
Owned by Daley, drover cove in Jackandandy.
"We was talkin' in the parlour, me and Daley, quiet like,
When a blow-fly starts a-buzzin' round the ceilin',
Up gets Daley, and he says to me, 'You wait a minute, Mike,
And I'll show you what a dorg he is at heelin'.'
"And an empty pickle-bottle was a-standin' on the shelf,
Daley takes it down and puts it on the table,
And he bets me drinks that blinded dorg would do it by himself -
And I didn't think as how as he was able!
"Well, he shows the dorg the bottle, and he points up to the fly,
And he shuts the door, and says to him -- 'Now Wattle!'
And in less than fifteen seconds, spare me days, it ain't a lie,
That there dorg had got that insect in the bottle."
First published in The Bulletin, 16 July 1898, and again in the same magazine on 24 June 1899, 27 December 1983 and 24 December 1985;
and later in
From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore, 1964;
The Penguin Book of Australian Humorous Verse edited by Bill Scott, 1984; and
Old Ballads from the Bush edited by Bill Scott, 1987.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
"But I know a dorg that simply knocked 'em bandy! --
Do whatever you would show him, and you'd hardly need to speak;
Owned by Daley, drover cove in Jackandandy.
"We was talkin' in the parlour, me and Daley, quiet like,
When a blow-fly starts a-buzzin' round the ceilin',
Up gets Daley, and he says to me, 'You wait a minute, Mike,
And I'll show you what a dorg he is at heelin'.'
"And an empty pickle-bottle was a-standin' on the shelf,
Daley takes it down and puts it on the table,
And he bets me drinks that blinded dorg would do it by himself -
And I didn't think as how as he was able!
"Well, he shows the dorg the bottle, and he points up to the fly,
And he shuts the door, and says to him -- 'Now Wattle!'
And in less than fifteen seconds, spare me days, it ain't a lie,
That there dorg had got that insect in the bottle."
First published in The Bulletin, 16 July 1898, and again in the same magazine on 24 June 1899, 27 December 1983 and 24 December 1985;
and later in
From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore, 1964;
The Penguin Book of Australian Humorous Verse edited by Bill Scott, 1984; and
Old Ballads from the Bush edited by Bill Scott, 1987.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
