  There once was a brother and sister, The sister was poor, the brother was rich. The poor one said to the rich one: “Give me a piece of bread.” The rich one said to the poor one: “Leave me to-day in peace, “While I give my yearly banquet “To the lords of the Council all. “The first doth turtlesoup relish, “The second doth pineapples eat, “The third is fond of pheasant “And Perigord truffles too. “The fourth eats nought but seafish, “The fifth in salmon delights, “The sixth of each dish eateth, “And drinketh even more.” The poor rejected sister Went hungry back to her house; She threw herself on her straw-bed, And deeply sighed and died. We all alike must perish! The scythe of death at last Mowed down the wealthy brother, As it the sister had mown. And when the wealthy brother His end approaching saw, He sent for his notary quickly, And straightway made his will. With legacies large and lib’ral The clergy he endow’d, The schools, and the great museum Of zoological things. And noble sums moreover The great testator bequeath’d To the deaf and dumb asylum And Jewish Conversion fund. A handsome bell bestow’d he On the new Saint Stephen’s tower; It weighs five hundred centners, Of first-rate metal too. It is a bell enormous, And sounds both early and late; It sounds to the praise and glory Of that most excellent man. It tells, with its tongue of iron, Of all the good he has done To the town and his fellow-townsmen, Whatever might be their faith. Thou great benefactor of mortals In death as well as in life The great bell’s ever proclaiming Each benefaction of thine! The funeral next with all honour And pomp was solemnized, The people crowded to see it And reverently gazed. Upon a coal-black carriage, Like a vast canopy Adorn’d with black ostrich feathers, The splendid coffin lay. Trick’d out with plates of silver, And silver embroidery fine, Upon the black ground the silver The grandest effect produced. The carriage was drawn by six horses, In coal-black trappings disguised, That fell, like funeral mantles, Down even to their hoofs. Behind the coffin were crowded The servants in liveries black, Their snow-white handkerchiefs holding Before their sorrowing face. The people of rank in the city, In long procession form’d Of black and showy coaches, Totter’d along behind. In this grand fun’ral procession, Remember, were also found The noble lords of the Council, And yet they were not complete. The one was missing, whose fancy Was pheasant and truffles to eat; An attack of indigestion Had lately carried him off. |
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