{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-free-traders-lament",
 "title": "The Free Trader’s Lament",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 56,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 30,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 49,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Oft from a trading-boat I purchased spice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And shells and corals, brought for my inspection",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From the fair tropics⁠—paid a Christian price",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And was content in my fool’s paradise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where never had been heard the word “Protection.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twas my sole island; there I dwelt alone⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No customs-house, collector nor collection,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But a man came who in a pious tone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Condoled with me that I had never known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The manifest advantage of Protection.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So, when the trading-boat arrived one day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He threw a stink-pot into its mid-section.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The traders paddled for their lives away,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor came again into that haunted bay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The blessed home thereafter of Protection.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then down he sat, that philanthropic man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And spat upon some mud of his selection,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And worked it, with his knuckles in a pan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To shapes of shells and coral things, and span",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A thread of song in glory of Protection.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He baked them in the sun. His air devout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enchanted me. I made a genuflection:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“God help you, gentle sir,” I said. “No doubt,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He answered gravely, “I’ll get on without",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Assistance now that we have got Protection.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thenceforth I bought his wares⁠—at what a price",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For shells and corals of such imperfection!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Ah, now,” said he, “your lot is truly nice.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But still in all that isle there was no spice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To season to my taste that dish, Protection.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}