Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/82

 DIVIDED DESTINIES

was an artless Bandar, and he danced upon a pine,

And much I wondered how he lived, and where the beast might dine,

And many, many other things, till, o'er my morning smoke,

I slept the sleep of idleness and dreamt that Bandar spoke.

He said:—"Oh man of many clothes! Sad crawler on the Hills!

"Observe, I know not Ranken's shop, nor Ranken's monthly bills!

"I take no heed to trousers or the coats that you call dress;

"Nor am I plagued with little cards for little drinks at Mess.

"I steal the bunnia's grain at morn, at noon and eventide

"(For he is fat and I am spare), I roam the mountain side,