27
A startling paradox.
Fred. A paradox?
King and Ruth. (Laughing.) A paradox —
A most ingenious paradox.
We've quips and quibbles heard in flocks,
But none to beat this paradox.
Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ho! ho! ho! ho!
King. We knew your taste for curious quips,
For cranks and contradictions queer,
And with the laughter on our lips
We wished you there to hear.
We said, " If we could tell it him,
How Frederic would the joke enjoy!"
And so We've risked both life and limb
To tell it to our boy,
Fred. (Interested.) That paradox.
King and Ruth. (Laughing.) That paradox.
That most ingenious paradox. We've quips and quibbles heard in flocks, But none to beat that paradox I Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! ho !
For some ridiculous reason — to which, however, I've no desire to be disloyal —
Some person in authority — I don't know who; very likely the Astronomer-Royal —
Has decided that although for such a beastly month as February twenty-eight days as a general rule are plenty,
One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as nine-and-twenty.
Through some singular coincidence — ! shouldn't be surprised if it were owing to the agency of an ill-natured fairy —
You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement, having been born in leap-year on the twenty-ninth of February ;
And so, by a simple arithmetical process, you'll easily discover,
That though you've lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays, you are only five and a little bit over!
Ruth and King. Ha! ha! ha! ha! Ho ! ho ! ho ! ho!
Fred. Dear me! let's see: (Counting on fingers.)
Yes, yes, — with yours my figures do agree.
Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! ho !
