{
 "id": "voltairine-de-cleyre/a-novel-of-color",
 "title": "A Novel of Color",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Voltairine de Cleyre",
 "poet_slug": "voltairine-de-cleyre",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre",
 "book_slug": "selected-works",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 23,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1914,
  "venue": "Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre (1914)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/selectedworksvo01havegoog",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43098"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/voltairine-de-cleyre_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43098",
   "https://archive.org/details/selectedworksvo01havegoog",
   "https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/voltairine-de-cleyre-collected-poems",
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/Free_Thought_Magazine/KNOMrVNM4CgC",
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Open_Court/711CAQAAMAAJ",
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Open_Court/6qzQAAAAMAAJ",
   "https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Worm_Turns/wslHAQAAMAAJ",
   "https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/voltairine-de-cleyre-a-new-hope",
   "https://archive.org/details/BostonInvestigator_1893-03-15"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 41,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 4,
  "longest_line_chars": 52,
  "max_indent": 3
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    2
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    2,
    3
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    3,
    4
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
    6
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Chipmunks three sat on a tree,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they were as green as green could be;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They cracked nuts early, they cracked nuts late,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And chirruped and chirruped, and ate and ate;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“ ’Tis a pity of chipmunks without nuts,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a gnawing hunger in their guts;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But they should be wise like you and me,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And color themselves to suit the tree.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gay chaps are we, we chipmunks three!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "An elephant white in sorry plight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hungry and dirty and sad bedight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Straggled one day on the nutting ground;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Lo,” chattered the chipmunks, “our chance is found!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behold the beast’s color; were he as we,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Green and sleek and nut-full were he!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the beast is big, and the beast is white,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his skin full of emptiness serves him right!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let us ‘sit on him, sit on him,’ chipmunks three.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Three chipmunks green right gay were seen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To leap on the beast his brows between;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They munched at his ears and chiffered his chin,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sat and sat and sat on him!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not a single available spot of hide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where a well-sleeked chipmunk could sit with pride,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But was chipped and chipped and chip-chip-munked,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till aught but an elephant must have flunked.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What a ride we’re having, we chipmunks three!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-f-f-f-f-f!!!",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“What was it blew? Ah whew, ah whew!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Three green chipmunks have all turned blue!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The elephant smiles a peaceful smile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And lifts off a tree-trunk sans haste or guile.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Seize him, seize him! He’s stealing our tree!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’re undone, undone,” shriek the chipmunks three.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The elephant calmly upraised his trunk,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And said, “Did I hear a green chipmunk?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah choo!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Chippy, you’re blue!” “So’re you!” “So’re you!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}