The Irish gander

               

                   There was an Irish gander,        

                                 A gardener by trade                                                        
                            Who tried to sell potatoes
                              But seldom was he paid

                                  A Jacobite potato                                            
                            Might have a goodly taste
                           But most of O'Grady's grew
                            To sprout an' rotten waste

                                                  
                        He used to call them 'apples'
                         From aardappels in Dutch,                                                        
                      He'd honk outside St. Patrick's                                                 
                         But ne'er earnt very much 

  

                     Yet Gods o' geese grant rewards                    

                           As Irish luck then proved

                   When O'Grady grew King Edwards,                

                              Life regally improved.

                             The moral of the poem, 
                               Or secret of the trade

                        Is you beat them or join them,                            

                          For sure fortune to be made.  

  
                                    *

°An illusion to Dutch influence from the participation of Dutch forces (Blue Guards) under Protestant William of Orange who fought alongside English, Danish and even French 'Williamites' against the inferior Irish (and French) Jacobite army of Catholics (the infantry, mostly raw recruits poorly armed with scythes or obsolete muskets) in the notorious Battle of the Boyne (July, 1690).

__  
    

Poem and vignette © Mirino from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Irish Goose (Pat) 'Digging for Apples, yer honour!'                    April, 2014