Nursery Rhyme. CCCLXXVII. Paradoxes.

    I saw a ship a-sailing,
        A-sailing on the sea;
    And, oh! it was all laden
        With pretty things for thee!

    There were comfits in the cabin,
        And apples in the hold;
    The sails were made of silk,
        And the masts were made of gold:

    The four-and-twenty sailors,
        That stood between the decks,
    Were four-and-twenty white mice,
        With chains about their necks.

    The captain was a duck,
        With a packet on his back;
    And when the ship began to move,
        The captain said, "Quack! quack!"