Brothers and Sisters by Lewis Carroll

"SISTER, sister, go to bed!
Go and rest your weary head."
Thus the prudent brother said.

"Do you want a battered hide,
Or scratches to your face applied?"
Thus his sister calm replied.

"Sister, do not raise my wrath.
I'd make you into mutton broth
As easily as kill a moth"

The sister raised her beaming eye
And looked on him indignantly
And sternly answered, "Only try!"

Off to the cook he quickly ran.
"Dear Cook, please lend a frying-pan
To me as quickly as you can."

And wherefore should I lend it you?"
"The reason, Cook, is plain to view.
I wish to make an Irish stew."

"What meat is in that stew to go?"
"My sister'll be the contents!"
"Oh"
"You'll lend the pan to me, Cook?"
"No!"

Moral: Never stew your sister.







This poem is kind of morbid but funny at the same time.  It starts off with the usual sibling bickering going on...but then leads into threats and eventually a stew.  It starts off with the brother telling the sister to go to bed, and the sister refuses.  But, she not only refuses, she responds with a threat to batter his hide and scratch his face if he tries to make her go to bed. These lines remind me of when my brother and I were little and we used to get into the whole "make me" argument...good times. Anyway, the brother responds with a 'go ahead and try...i'll just beat you' kind of reply.  The sister then calls his bluff and dares him to by saying "Only try" which of course, to a boy, means he has to do it.  This form of back and forth dialogue in the poem really helps to demonstrate the innocence of these children, by having them talking back to each other. The brother hastily runs off to the cook and asks him for a pan in which to fry his sister...a request which the cook thankfully denies.  I like this poem because it reminds me of how Killian and I used to be...and sometimes still are.