Little Johannes jumped over his bed,
Little Johannes arrived on his head.
Oh, what a thump!
Oh, what a bump!
Big as a plum, and nearly as red!
“Call the phrenologist!” somebody said.
The great man came! Oh, wasn’t he wise,
With a pair of blue spectacles over his eyes?
He felt the boy’s head with finger and thumb:
he stopped at the bump, and remarked, “Ha, Hum!”
Oh, wasn’t he wise?
He said that Johannes -if nothing went wrong-
Would likely do something before very long!
And this is the end of my beautiful song.
But, wasn’t he wise?
(From Jack of All Trades, 1900. Text by JJ Bell. Illustrations by C Robinson.)
