Wonderful Crocodile

Come list ye, landsmen, all to me,
To tell the truth I'm bound-
What happened to me by going to sea
And the wonders that l found.
Shipwrecked l was one sappy rouse
And cast all on the shore,
So I resolved to take a cruise,
The country to explore.

cho: To my ri tol tooral loralido,
Ritol looral lay,
To my ri tol lol fol liddle lol de fol
To my tol looral lay.

Oh, l had not long scurried out,
When close alongside the ocean,
'Twas there that I saw something move,
Like all the earth in motion.
While steering close up alongside
l saw it was a crocodile;
From the end of his nose to the tip of his tail
It measured five hundred mile.

This crocodile I could plainly see
Was none of the common race,
For I had to climb a very high tree
Before l could see his face.
And when he lifted up his jaw,
Perhaps you may think it a lie,
But his back was three miles through the clouds
And his nose near touched the sky.

Oh, up aloft the wind was high,
lt blew a hard gale from the south;
l lost my hold and away l flew
Right into the crocodile's mouth.
He quickly closed his jaws on me,
He thought to nab a victim;
But l slipped down his throat, d'ye see,
And that's the way l tricked 'im.

l traveled on for a year or two
Till l got into his maw,
And there were rum kegs not a few
And a thousand bullocks in store.
Through life I banished all my care
For on grub l was not stinted;
And in this crocodile lived ten years,
Very well contented.

This crocodile being very old,
One day at last he died;
He was three years in catching cold,
He was so long and wide.
His skin was three mi!es thick, l'm sure,
Or very ncar about;
For l was full six months or more
In making a hole to get out.

So now l'm safe on earth once more,
Resolved no more to roam.
ln a ship that passed I got a berth,
So now I'm safe at home.
But, if my story you should doubt,
Did you ever cross the Nile
'Twas there he fell---you'll find the shell
Of this wonderful crocodile.

From American Ballads and Folk Songs, Lomax
RG