and understood it. They began to gather about him in a way he did not
relish, and he retreated toward the wall. They pressed upon him.
"Stand back," said Curdie, grasping his pickaxe tighter by his knee.
They only grinned and pressed closer. Curdie bethought himself, and
began to rhyme.
"Ten, twenty, thirty-You're all so very dirty!
Twenty, thirty, forty-You're all so thick and snorty!
"Thirty, forty, fifty-You're all so puff-and-snifty!
Forty, fifty, sixty-Beast and man so mixty!
"Fifty, sixty, seventy-Mixty, maxty, leaventy-Sixty, seventy, eighty-All your cheeks so slaty.
Madhuri Noah
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