{
 "id": "james-mcintyre/duck-and-oyster",
 "title": "Duck and Oyster",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "James McIntyre",
 "poet_slug": "james-mcintyre",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems of James McIntyre",
 "book_slug": "poems-of-james-mcintyre",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 59,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1889,
  "venue": "Poems of James McIntyre (1889)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_11791"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/james-mcintyre_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_09542",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36068",
   "https://archive.org/details/cihm_11791"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 48,
  "n_stanzas": 12,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Once on a time there lived a duck,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And by its fishing it did thrive;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So one day it longed to suck",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An oyster and for one did dive.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The oyster near shore lay open,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The duck, its gizzard for to fill,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Resolved that he would pop in",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between the shells his sharp bill.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And then he would have glorious treat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But oyster closed on it its shell,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And duck it got no oyster meat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But worse than that the duck befell.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "This oyster was so very large,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It held the duck’s head under water,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And towed small oysters like a barge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each one clung to it like squatter.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Duck it died of too much moisture,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And it floated towards the beach,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And to its bill clung big oyster,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sticking to it like a horse leach.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "On the shore there stood a shyster,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Watching fat duck floating to him,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the wondrous big oyster,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How fine it would be to stew them.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Alas the duck lost its dinner,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And at the same time lost its life,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But on it dined a hungry sinner,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who did reap all the spoils of strife.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For when the duck to land did float,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It towed small oysters not a few,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For it sailed like to a boat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With fat duck pie and oyster stew.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "None can the poor duck’s fate bewail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For it reckoned without its host,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It strove for conquest and did fail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fighting for spoil it battle lost.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "You see the wild duck did not know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When it attacked the big oyster,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It had to fight a numerous foe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of these shell fish a whole cluster.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Borne feathers on briny billow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They were full of springy down,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And they made a glorious pillow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where fellow he could rest his crown.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "This chap he did not plow nor sow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But from sea and land he did reap",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The wealth that others caused to grow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thus he treasures up did heap.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}