(The Little Red Rogue-The Fox.)
Och, Modereen Rue, you little red rover!
By the glint of the moon you stole out of your cover, And now there is never an egg to be got,Nor a handsome fat chicken to put in the pot.
Och, Modereen Rue!
With your nose to the earth and your ear on the listen,You slunk through the stubble with frost-drops a-glisten,With my lovely fat drake in your teeth as you went,That your red roguish children should breakfast content. Och, Modereen Rue!
Och, Modereen Rue, hear the horn for a warning They are looking for red roguish foxes this morning; But let them come my way, you little red rogue,"Tis I will betray you to huntsman and dog.
Och, Modereen Rue!
The little red rogue, he"s the colour of bracken.
O"er mountains, o"er valleys, his pace will not slacken.
Tantara! tantara! he is off now, and, faith!
"Tis a race "twixt the little red rogue and his death.
Och, Modereen Rue !
Och, Modereen Rue, I"ve no cause to be grievingFor little red rogues with their tricks and their thieving.
The hounds they give tongue, and the quarry"s in sight,The hens on the roost may sleep easy to-night.
Och, Modereen Rue!
But my blessing be on him! He made the hounds followThrough the woods, through the dales, over hill, over hollow,It was Modereen Rue led them fast, led them far, From the glint of the morning till eve"s silver star.
Och, Modereen Rue!
And he saved his red brush for his own futurewearing;
He slipped into a drain, and he left the hounds swearing.
Good luck, my fine fellow, and long may you show Such a clean pair of heels to the hounds as they go.
Och, Modereen Rue!
Katharine Tynan HinKson.
About the Author.-Mrs. Kathleen Tynan HinKson, novelist and verse-writer, was born in Ireland.
About the Poem.-The "een" in Modereen means little, and the "Rue" means red. What then would "Moder" mean? Mention girls" names ending in "een." Why does the fox hunt at night? What are frost-drops? How do people hunt the fox? When is bracken red? How did Modereen Rue escape? If the fox was a little red thief, what made the writer glad he got away? Tell any other story you know about a fox.