Fit the Eighth: The Vanishing

  1. The Banker’s Fate
  2. The Hunting of the Snark
    • They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
    • They pursued it with forks and hope;
    • They threatened its life with a railway-share;
    • They charmed it with smiles and soap.
    • They shuddered to think that the chase might fail,
    • And the Beaver, excited at last,
    • Went bounding along on the tip of its tail,
    • For the daylight was nearly past.
    • “There is Thimgumbob shouting!” the Bellman said.
    • “He is shouting like mad, only hark!
    • He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head,
    • He has certainly found a Snark!”
    • They gazed in delight, while the Butcher exclaimed
    • “He was always a desperate wag!”
    • They beheld him—their Baker—their hero unnamed—
    • On the top of a neighbouring crag,
    • Erect and sublime, for one moment of time
    • In the next, that wild figure they saw
    • (As if stung by a spasm) plunge into a chasm,
    • While they waited and listened in awe.
    • “It’s a Snark!” was the sound that first came to their ears,
    • And seemed almost too good to be true.
    • Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:
    • Then the ominous words “It’s a Boo—”
    • Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air
    • A weary and wandering sigh
    • That sounded like “—jum!” but the others declare
    • It was only a breeze that went by.
    • They hunted till darkness came on, but they found
    • Not a button, or feather, or mark,
    • By which they could tell that they stood on the ground
    • Where the Baker had met with the Snark.
    • In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
    • In the midst of his laughter and glee,
    • He had softly and suddenly vanished away—
    • For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
  1. The Banker’s Fate
  2. The Hunting of the Snark