Analysis of The Tale of Custard the Dragon

Ogden Nash 1902 (Rye, New York) – 1971 (Baltimore)



Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.Now the name of the little black kitten was
Ink,
And the little gray mouse, she called hum Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.
Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,
And realio, trulio daggers on his toes.
Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears,
And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs,
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful,
Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival,
They all sat laughing in the little red wagon
At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.
Belinda giggled till she shook the house,
and Blink said Weeck! which is giggling for a mouse,
Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,
When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound,
And Mustard growled, and they all looked around.
Meowch! cried Ink, and Ooh! cried Belinda,
For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.
Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,
And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright,
His beard was black, one leg was wood;
It was clear that the pirate meant no good.
Belinda paled, and she cried Help! Help!
But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp,
Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,
And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.
But up jumped Custard snorting like an engine,
Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon,
With a clatter and a clank and a jangling squirm,
He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm.
The pirate gaped at Belinda's dragon,
And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon,
He fired two bullets, but they didn't hit,
And Custard gobbled him, every bit.
Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him,
No one mourned for his pirate victim.
Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate
Around the dragon that ate the pirate.
But presently up spoke little dog Mustard,
I'd been twice as brave if I hadn't been flustered.
And up spoke Ink and up spoke Blink,
We'd have been three times as brave, we think,
And Custard said, I quite agree
That everybody is braver than me.
Belinda still lives in her little white house,
With her little black kitten and her little gray mouse,
And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon,
And her realio, trulio little pet dragon.
Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears,
And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs,
Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage.


Scheme AABCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJBBAAIIKKLEMMNNOOPEBBQQBBRRSTUVEEDDWWAABBHHII
Poetic Form
Metre 0101001011 1010110001011 00101010010110 001110110110101101 1 0010111111 001010111110 10101010011110 100101111 0111110101 1101010101 01110111 0101111010111 0101110101 101111010001 110110111 01010111011 1101011011100 111100010110 101110010 0101011101 011111100101 101010111 110110111 100100110101 0101011101 111011010 11101010001 10011110011 0110110101 11111111 1111010111 010101111 110110101 11011010101 0101101001 11110101110 1111100010 10100010011 1110101010101 01011110 011111101 11011011101 0101011001 0100111011 111111010 1010111 0101011010 11001110110 111111110110 01110111 111111111 01011101 110011011 01011001011 1010110001011 00101010010110 001110110 0101111010111 0101110101 101111010001 11011010111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 2,758
Words 567
Sentences 23
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 62
Lines Amount 62
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 2,158
Words per stanza (avg) 509
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Submitted on January 01, 2024

2:51 min read
74

Ogden Nash

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) was, during his lifetime, the most well-known American writer of light verse, and his popularity has continued after his death. His witty style has been imitated by many, but none have quite equalled the old master. more…

All Ogden Nash poems | Ogden Nash Books

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