Carl von Bergen, German
“You Know, Boys, I Only Paid Half-Price For This Sucker. That’s Right. It Was a Sale Boat! (I’ll Show Myself Out.),” Date Unknown
Oil on canvas
Follow That Is Priceless on Social Media and GoComics (the Link button):
Click to Follow This Blog or Share This Masterpiece:
/// The old woodcarver stopped to amuse
Gretchen’s twins with tall tales of a cruise
on The Sailing Ship he
built to take mice to sea—
but she’d paid him to carve them some shoes.
/// She’s still knitting them socks for their feet,
and both pairs are now nearly complete.
They’d need klumpen or clogs
made from strong alder logs
to keep stockings without holes and neat.
/// The twins play games all day in the park,
and can get off the trails after dark.
They climb over sharp coals
being souls with tough soles.
(Or is that just a callous remark?)
/// Mother fears their bare feet will get hurt
and infected when covered in dirt.
This man was, she’d been told,
a skilled cobbler, though old.
Will it help, she now mused, if I flirt?
/// Hans und Fritz were a couple of brats
whose last name meant “the wailing of cats.”
They both take turns and share
any headgear they wear.
Can’t afford two Tyrollean hats.
/// Those two “veasels” were thoughtless buffoons.
Lived among elephants and baboons.
On der Captain played pranks.
Gave der Mama no thanks.
They inspired several rival cartoons!