UPA LADDERDOWN THE HILLPREPOSITIONS·
UPA LADDERDOWN THE HILLPREPOSITIONS·
“TO,from,of,for,over,under,on,near,at,by,in,among,before,behind,up,down—— Pray, who is the owner of all these little creatures?” said Judge Grammar, the next day. “Mr. Noun, are they yours?”
“No, indeed, my lord,” answered Mr. Noun, “they are not the names of any one or anything that I ever heard of.”
“Dr. Verb, are they yours?”
“I should not object to having them, my lord,”answered Dr. Verb, “if I could do anything with them; but they seem to me neitherto benorto do, norto sufferany——”
“That will do,” interrupted the Judge, afraid that Dr. Verb was beginning one of his long speeches. “Mr. Adjective, do you claim them?”
“They do not qualify anything, my lord,” answered Adjective; “indeed, they seem to mepoor,useless,silly,little——”
“We do not want you to qualify them, thank you,” said the Judge, “but to tell us if they are yours. Article, we know, has onlyaoranandthe, so they cannot be his. Mr. Pronoun, do they belong to you?”
“No, my lord,” answered Pronoun. “As Mr. Noun has nothing to say to them, neither have I. They do not stand instead of any name.”
“Well,” said the Judge, “we know they do not belong to that tiresome little Interjection. Are they yours, Adverb?”
“I should beextremelyglad to have them, my lord,” answered Adverb, smoothly washing his hands, as usual. “I have no doubt I could make themexceedinglyuseful——”
“That is not what I asked,” said the Judge; “are they yours?”
“I cannot say they areexactlymine,” said Adverb; “but——”
“That is all we want to know,” interrupted the Judge. Then raising his voice, he continued: “If there is any one in this court to whom these words, ‘to, from, of, for,’etc., do belong, let him come forward.”
At these words, a sharp, dapper little fellow stepped forward, and looking around the court with a triumphant air, exclaimed, “They belong to me.”
“And who are you?”
“Preposition, my lord. My position is just before a noun or pronoun. My words point out to them their proper position. I keep them in order.”
“You keep them in order?” said Judge Grammar, looking down at him through his spectacles; “how can a little mite like you keep Mr. Noun in order?”
“Little or big, my lord, that’s what I do,” said Preposition. “I settle the position of every one and every thing, and show whether they are to beonorunder,toorfrom,upordown.”
“Kindlyforgive me for interrupting you,” said Adverb, coming forward. “Ireallymust remark thatupanddownare my words.”
“How do you make out that?” asked the Judge.
“I will show youdirectly, my lord,” answered Adverb.“By the help of my questionshow,when, andwhere, which, you know, I alone can answer. If you say, ‘sit up,’ I ask, ‘howam I to sit?’ The answer is, ‘up.’ ‘Lie down;’ ‘howam I to lie?’ The answer is, ‘down.’Upanddown, therefore, answer to my questionhow, and are mine.”
“Stop a minute,” said Preposition. “I also can answer to your favourite questionshow,when, andwhere. Listen:—
Howdo you like it? tell me true.Madeofsugar, dressedinblue.Whendo you like it? answer me.Atmy dinner;aftertea.Wheredo you like it? say, if you’re able.Onmy lap orunderthe table?”
Howdo you like it? tell me true.Madeofsugar, dressedinblue.Whendo you like it? answer me.Atmy dinner;aftertea.Wheredo you like it? say, if you’re able.Onmy lap orunderthe table?”
Howdo you like it? tell me true.Madeofsugar, dressedinblue.Whendo you like it? answer me.Atmy dinner;aftertea.Wheredo you like it? say, if you’re able.Onmy lap orunderthe table?”
Howdo you like it? tell me true.
Madeofsugar, dressedinblue.
Whendo you like it? answer me.
Atmy dinner;aftertea.
Wheredo you like it? say, if you’re able.
Onmy lap orunderthe table?”
“Really,” said Adverb, smiling politely, “that isvery cleverlydone. But allow me to makejustone remark. You have not answered one single question without the help of some other part of speech. Mr. Noun has helped you with ‘sugar,’ ‘dinner,’ ‘tea,’ ‘lap,’ ‘table;’ Mr. Adjective lent you ‘blue;’ Mr. Pronoun, ‘my;’ and so on. Now I, without any help, answer the questions quite alone.”
“You cannot expect a little fellow like me to stand quite alone,” said Preposition; “I don’t pretend to do it. I told you at first that my right position is before a noun or pronoun, or some such word. All I mean is that I help to answer the questions, and that neither Mr. Noun nor Mr. Pronoun could answer them without me.”
“Is that true, Brother Parsing?” asked the Judge.
“Quite true, my lord,” answered the learned Serjeant. “When I find the questions ‘how?’ ‘when?’ or ‘where?’ answered by one word alone, I put that word down to Adverb. But when I find them answered by Mr. Noun or Mr. Pronoun, helped by another little word, then I know that that other little word belongs to Preposition.”
“Yes, my lord,” continued Preposition; “so if you say ‘upa ladder’ or ‘downa hill,’upanddownare mine; they show your position on the ladder or the hill; they are the little prepositions put before Mr. Noun’s wordsladderandhill. But, of course, if you were to ask how I am to stepupordown? then Adverb could call up and downadverbs, because they are added on to the verb ‘step,’ and they have nothing to do with a noun or a pronoun.”
“Precisely,” said Adverb; “my friend Preposition isperfectlycorrect. Iimmenselyadmire my young friend, although he does not move inquite soselect a circle as myself.”
“Don’t I?” said Preposition, with a knowing little nod.
“I think Mr. Noun quite as good company as Dr. Verb, any day. Besides, even grand Dr. Verb is glad enough to have my littletoto put before his verbs. When he makes up his ‘songs,’ as he calls them, he always puts my littletobefore the name at the top. He is glad enough to have it to point out his verbs, and does not despise me at all,though I do not stick on to him like a leech, as some people do;” and Preposition nodded his head very fast a great many times at Adverb.
“Dr. Verb does not agree with you, though,” remarked Pronoun, quietly.
“No,” said Preposition, “I do not alter for him, nor he for me. But he does not agree with Adverb either. Poor Adverb agrees with nobody, and nobody agrees with him; and he, poor fellow! cannot govern anybody, either. Now I govern every noun or pronoun that I come before, for I put them in the Objective Case.”
“I object,” cried the Judge. “I will not have that word brought into court. I said so before, and I say so again. Nominative Case is bad enough, but Objective Case is enough to turn a brown wig grey in a single night. Break up the court! Critics, clear the room!”
And Judge Grammar rose hastily from his seat, and stalked angrily out, while all the Parts-of-Speech stood looking speechlessly at each other till the policemen came, bundled them all out, and locked the doors behind them.
In spite of the hurry, however, Serjeant Parsing managed to hand up to the people of Schoolroom-shire the following verses, begging the ladies and gentlemen there to find out all the prepositions in them, and to count how many lines there are in which Preposition has nothing to say.
THE FAIRY-RING.
Beside a bluebell on the heath,Among the purple heather,A fairy lived, and crept beneathThe leaves in windy weather.She drank the dewdrops from the stalk,Shepeeped into the flower;And then she went to take a walk,Or ride for half-an-hour.She rode upon a cricket’s back,She came before the Queen,The fairy Queen, with all her court,Within the forest green.They had a dance upon the grass,Till larks began to sing;And where they danced, as all may knowThey left a fairy-ring.Oh, pretty fairies! why not stay,That we at you may peep?Why will you only dance and playWhen we are fast asleep?
Beside a bluebell on the heath,Among the purple heather,A fairy lived, and crept beneathThe leaves in windy weather.She drank the dewdrops from the stalk,Shepeeped into the flower;And then she went to take a walk,Or ride for half-an-hour.She rode upon a cricket’s back,She came before the Queen,The fairy Queen, with all her court,Within the forest green.They had a dance upon the grass,Till larks began to sing;And where they danced, as all may knowThey left a fairy-ring.Oh, pretty fairies! why not stay,That we at you may peep?Why will you only dance and playWhen we are fast asleep?
Beside a bluebell on the heath,Among the purple heather,A fairy lived, and crept beneathThe leaves in windy weather.
Beside a bluebell on the heath,
Among the purple heather,
A fairy lived, and crept beneath
The leaves in windy weather.
She drank the dewdrops from the stalk,Shepeeped into the flower;And then she went to take a walk,Or ride for half-an-hour.
She drank the dewdrops from the stalk,
Shepeeped into the flower;
And then she went to take a walk,
Or ride for half-an-hour.
She rode upon a cricket’s back,She came before the Queen,The fairy Queen, with all her court,Within the forest green.
She rode upon a cricket’s back,
She came before the Queen,
The fairy Queen, with all her court,
Within the forest green.
They had a dance upon the grass,Till larks began to sing;And where they danced, as all may knowThey left a fairy-ring.
They had a dance upon the grass,
Till larks began to sing;
And where they danced, as all may know
They left a fairy-ring.
Oh, pretty fairies! why not stay,That we at you may peep?Why will you only dance and playWhen we are fast asleep?
Oh, pretty fairies! why not stay,
That we at you may peep?
Why will you only dance and play
When we are fast asleep?