Iv

“Pegtop, pegtop--fast asleep! Pray, how long do you mean to keep Humming and droning and spinning away? Do you mean to keep on all the day? Ten minutes have passed since your nap was begun; Pegtop, when will your nap be done?

“Forty winks, forty, and forty more! You never slept so long before; This is a pretty sleep to take! Boxer, Boxer, yawn and wake!”

Then said Marian, “Never fear; Dolly’s nightcap, Richard dear, Put on Boxer--perhaps he thinks He would like forty times forty winks!”

Three o’clock, four o’clock, all day long Richard’s pegtop hummed so strong, Hummed away and would not stop-- Dick had to buy another top! For though this Boxer was certainly clever, Who wants a pegtop to hum for ever?

All the Queen’s horses and all the Queen’s men Couldn’t get Boxer to wake again; They made him a house, and put him in; The people came to see Boxer spin; “A penny apiece,” said Dick, “and cheap, To see my Pegtop’s wonderful sleep!”