Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/The Ill Wind

The Ill Wind.
In debt, deserted, and forlorn,A melancholy elfResolved, upon a Monday morn,To go and hang himself.
He reached the tree, when lo! he viewsA pot of gold concealed;He snatched it up, threw down the noose,And scampered from the field.
The owner camo—found out the theft,And, having scratched his head,Took up the rope the other left,And hung himself instead.