C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Master Paul

Translation of Sir John Bowring

MASTER PAUL was angry: in his ire

Threw his hat,

Like a log, into the blazing fire—

What of that?

Talked about his wife till he was hoarse:

“Curse her—I’ll apply for a divorce!

No! I’ll chase her out of doors instead;”—

And he did exactly what he said.

Master Paul got cooler after that—

Very cool!

“What a fool to throw away my hat—

What a fool!

What a fool to drive her from the door!

Now I shall be poorer than before;

For she kept the house, and earned her bread;”

And it was exactly as he said.

Master Paul got angrier, angrier yet:

Took his hat,

Flung it from him in his passionate pet—

What of that?

“Toil and trouble is man’s wretched lot,

And one more misfortune matters not:

Let it go—unsheltered be my head;”—

And he did exactly as he said.

Freed from all this world’s anxieties,

Master Paul

Pulled his hat indignant o’er his eyes—

“All, yes! all,

All is gone, my partner and my pelf:

Naught is left me but to hang myself,

So of all my troubling cares get rid;”—

And exactly as he said, he did.