O, a cucumber grew by the deep rolling sea,

And it tumbled about in reckless glee

Till the summer waned and the grass turned brown.

And the farmer plucked it and took it to town.

Wrinkled and warty and bilious and blue,

It lay in the market the autumn through;

Till a woman with freckles on her cheek

Led in her husband, so mild and meek.

He purchased the fruit, at her request,

And hid it forever under his vest,

For it doubled him up like a kangaroo,

And now he sleeps 'neath the violets blue.