A Long, Sad Tale (Carroll, set by G. Ligeti) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


"Off with her head!"
Head, heal, teal, tell, tall, tail...

"Mine is a long and a sad tale."
"It is a long tail, certainly,
but why do you call it sad?"
Turn witch into fairy.
Witch, winch, wench, tench, tenth, tents, tints,
  tilts, tills, fills, falls, fails, fairs, fairy!

Fury said to a mouse,
That he met in the house,
"Let us both go to law:
I will prosecute you. -- Come,
I'll take no denial;
We must have a trial:
For really this morning
I've nothing to do." 

Furies, buries, buried, burked, barked, barred, barrel...

Said the mouse to the cur,
"Such a trial, dear Sir,
With no jury or judge,
would be wasting our breath."
"I'll be judge, I'll be jury,"
Said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause,
and condemn you to death."
Quilt, guilt, guile, guide, glide, slide, slice, spice,
  spine, spins, shins, shies, shier, sheer, sheet...

Authorship

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) [pseudonym]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Original Games and Puzzles

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

György Ligeti (1923-2006)

Nonsense Madrigals

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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