RUDYARD KIPLING A Smuggler's Song | Traditional English Poem #kipling #rudyardkipling

A Smuggler's Song by Rudyard Kipling is a traditional English poem and one of Kipling's most popular poems. This poem was published in Kipling's book of short stories 'Puck of Pook's Hill' (published in 1906). The speaker of the poem is a smuggler who advises a little girl to look the other way whenever she sees smugglers transporting smuggled illegal items through the town in which she lives. The poem is set between the years 1806–1814. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) was born in Bombay, India. From the age of 5 he lived in the United Kingdom. He returned to India for work at the age of 16. One of Kipling's most famous works is 'The Jungle Book' (1894), which was of course made into a popular animated Disney film in 1967. As an adult, Kipling lived for many years in the county of Sussex, UK. A SMUGGLER'S SONG If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet, Don't go drawing back the blind or looking in the street. Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie. Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark -- Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk; Laces for a lady, letters for a spy, And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! Running round the woodlump if you chance to find Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine, Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play. Put the brishwood* back again - and they'll be gone next day! If you see the stable-door setting open wide; If you see a tired horse lying down inside; If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore; If the lining's wet and warm -- don't you ask no more! If you meet King George's men*, dressed in blue and red, You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said. If they call you 'pretty maid' and chuck you 'neath the chin, Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been! Knocks and footsteps round the house -- whistles after dark -- You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark. Trusty's here, and Pincer's here, and see how dumb they lie -- They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by! If you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance, You'll be given a dainty doll, all the way from France, With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood -- A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good! Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark -- Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk; Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie -- Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by! *Brishwood is the Sussex word for brushwood. *King George’s men refers to the soldiers who were tasked with hunting smugglers.