Jabberwocky variants
JABBERWOCKY
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgy wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
COMPUWOCKY
'Twas Babbage and the systems core
Did gripe and gibber in the caves.
All mumbly were the borrowed drives
And the MicroVax out-paged.
"Beware the Jargontalk, my son!
The laws that write, the clause that catches!
Beware the %Job/Job bug, and shun
The generic system batch."
JABBEROMANCE
"Twas bedtime and the slimy touts
Did grope and giggle in the waves.
All mellow were the bathing girls
And lone gals were way-laid.
"Beware the father's walk, my son!
His paws that light on jaws of thatch!
Beware the maddened Mum, and shun
The shotgun marriage match."
JABBERGAZETEER
'Twas Brilley and the Slyne Tovil
Did Gaer and Gimingham in the Ware.
All Minsted were the Bromsgroves
And the More Rathen Outgate.
"Beware the Jacobstow, my Sunton!
The Jarrows that Bighton, the Clawtons that Catchgate!
Beware the Jurby East Birdlip, and Shunton
The Frome Brads Hatch."
JABBERSALES
'Twas recession time and the slippery sales person
Did twist and gambol in the market place.
All smiles wherever any customers
And their money could be found.
"Beware the ICL, my son!
The jaws that bite into our profits, the claws that grab the business away!
Beware the HP bird, and definitely shun
The big blue IBM."
COMPUTERWOCKY 1
'Twas binary, and the wysiwyg
Did gulp and gigo in the mips:
All bubble were the memories,
And bipolar were the chips.
"Beware the Jargontalk, my son!
Like 'gigabytes' and 'Riscs' and 'rings'!
Beware all technospeak, and shun
Those dubious buzz-word things."
Base two! Base two! and through and through
The packet-switch went buffer-stack!
With multithread and thin-film head
It went on looping back.
"And hast thou sussed the Jargontalk
In interactive user code?
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
(in Lewis Carroll mode).
COMPUTERWOCKY 2
Twas digital, and the binary bits
did gire and gimbole in the core
All mimsy were the registers,
and the mainframe outbore.
Beware the Computerwock, My son
the bugs in bytes,the cards that patch
Beware the GIGO bird, and shun
the fumrirous bandersnatch
He took his on line pen in hand,
long time the mini-max he sought
So rested he by the logic tree,
and programmed it in though.
And as in uffish thought he stood
the computer wock, with console lights,
Came wiffling through the I/O queue
and burbled bits to bytes!
One! Two! and through and through,
the input pen went snicker snack
He left it dead, its dump unread,
and went galumphing back.
And hast thou slain the Computerwock,my son
come into my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh fabulous day! I/O! Overlay!
he chortled in his joy.
Twas digital, and the binary bits
did gire and gimbole in the core
All mimsy were the registers,
and the mainframe outbore.
Der Jammerwoch
Es brillig war. Die schlichten Toven
Wirrten und wimmelten im Waben
Und aller-mümsige Burggoven
Die mohmen Räth' ausgraben.
Bewahre doch vor Jammerwoch!
Die Zähne knirschen, Krallen kratzen!
Behahr' vor Jub-jub Vogel, vor
Frumiösen Banderschnatzen!
Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu,
Er suchte lang das manscham' Ding;
Dann, stehend unter'm Tumtum Baum,
Er an-zu-denken-fing.
Als stand er tief in Andacht auf,
Des Jammerwochen's Augen-feuer
Durch tulgen Wald mit wiffeln kam,
Ein burblend Ungeheuer!
Eins, Zwei! Eins, Zwei! Und durch und durch
Sien vorpals Schwert zerschniferschnück,
Da blieb es todt! Er, Kopf in Hand,
Geläumfig zog zurück!
Und schlugst Du ja den Jammerwoch?
Umarme mich, mein Böhm'sches Kind!
O Freuden-Tag! O Halloo-Schlag!
Er chortelt froh-gesinnt.
Es brillig war. Die schlichten Toven
Wirrten und wimmelten im Waben
Und aller-mümsige Burggoven
Die mohmen Räth' ausgraben.
Abdul Abulbul Amir
The sons of the prophet are brave men and bold
And quite unaccustomed to fear,
But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah
Was Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Now the heroes were plenty and well known to fame
In the troops that were led by the Tsar,
And the bravest of these was a man by the name
of Ivan Skavinsky Skvar.
One day this bold Russian had shouldered his gun
And donned his most trucculent sneer.
Down town he did go, where he trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
"Young man", quoth Abdul, "Has life grown so dull
That you wish to end your career?
Vile infidel, know that you've trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir".
Said Ivan, "My friend, your remarks in the end
Will avail you but little I fear.
For you ne'er will survive to repeat them alive,
Mr Abdul Abulbul Amir".
"So take your last look at sunshine and brook,
And send your regards to the Tsar.
By this I imply you are going to die,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skvar".
They fought all that night 'neath the pale yellow moon,
The din it was heard from afar.
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame
Of Abdul and Ivan Skvar.
The Sultan drove by in his red-crested fly,
Expecting the victor to cheer,
But he only drew nigh just to hear the last sigh
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Tsar Petrovitch too, in his spectacles blue,
rode up in his new crested car.
He arrived just in time to exchange a last line
With Ivan Skavinsky Skvar.
There the tomb rises up, where the blue Danube rolls,
Engraved in characters clear.
Oh stranger, when passing, go pray for the soul
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
A Moscovite maiden her late vigil keeps
'Neath the light of the pale polar star.
And the name that she murmurs so oft' as she weeps
Is Ivan Skavinsky Skvar.