The Pet Coon
Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to meWhen he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-coon'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree;An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon.Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too,An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down;An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you--'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town.
Now he aint afeard a bit! he's ist so fat an' tame,We on'y chain him up at night, to save the little chicks.Holler "Greedy! Greedy!" to him, an' he knows his name,An' here he'll come a-waddle-un, up fer any tricks!He'll climb up my leg, he will, an' waller in my lap,An' poke his little black paws 'way in my pockets whereThey's beechnuts, er chinkypins, er any little scrapOf anything, 'at's good to eat--an' he don't care!
An' he's as spunky as you please, an' don't like dogs at all.--Billy Miller's black-an'-tan tackled him one day,An' "Greedy" he ist kindo' doubled all up like a ball,An' Billy's dog he gived a yelp er two an' runned away!An' nen when Billy fighted me, an' hit me with a bone,An' Ma she purt'nigh ketched him as he dodged an' skooted thro'The fence, she says, "You better let my little boy alone,Er 'Greedy,' next he whips yer dog, shall whip you, too!"
Words in this poem
- waller n.
- One who builds walls.
- scrap n.
- Something scraped off; hence, a small piece; a bit; a fragment; a detached, incomplete portion. [OE. scrappe, fr. Icel. skrap trifle, cracking. See Scrape, v. t.]
- spunky a.
- Full of spunk; quick; spirited.
- billy n.
- A club; esp., a policeman's club.
- tackled a.
- Made of ropes tacked together.
- yelp n.
- A sharp, quick cry; a bark.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pet Coon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Riley Child-Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #9777; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Whitcomb Riley, The Pet Coon, in Riley Child-Rhymes (1890), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9777, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/riley-child-rhymes/the-pet-coon.html, id L25062.
Form and metre
The Pet Coon is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCD meA · coonB · treeA · noonB · tooC · downD · youC · townD
- 2 ABABCDCD tameA · chicksB · nameA · tricksB · lapC · whereD · scrapC · careD
- 3 ABABC-C- allA · dayB · ballA · awayB · boneC · thro · aloneC · too
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to me | 13 | ·/˘·˘···˘···· |
| When he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-coon | 13 | ····/˘····/˘· |
| 'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree; | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon. | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too, | 13 | ········/˘/˘· |
| An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down; | 14 | ···········//· |
| An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you-- | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| 'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town. | 13 | ············· |
| Now he aint afeard a bit! he's ist so fat an' tame, | 13 | ···˘/········ |
| We on'y chain him up at night, to save the little chicks. | 14 | ·/˘········/˘· |
| Holler "Greedy! Greedy!" to him, an' he knows his name, | 13 | /˘/˘/˘······· |
| An' here he'll come a-waddle-un, up fer any tricks! | 13 | ·····/˘···/˘· |
| He'll climb up my leg, he will, an' waller in my lap, | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| An' poke his little black paws 'way in my pockets where | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| They's beechnuts, er chinkypins, er any little scrap | 13 | ········/˘/˘· |
| Of anything, 'at's good to eat--an' he don't care! | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| An' he's as spunky as you please, an' don't like dogs at all.-- | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| Billy Miller's black-an'-tan tackled him one day, | 13 | /˘/˘···/˘˘··· |
| An' "Greedy" he ist kindo' doubled all up like a ball, | 14 | ·/˘····/˘····· |
| An' Billy's dog he gived a yelp er two an' runned away! | 14 | ·/˘·········˘/ |
| An' nen when Billy fighted me, an' hit me with a bone, | 14 | ···/˘/˘······· |
| An' Ma she purt'nigh ketched him as he dodged an' skooted thro' | 14 | ·············· |
| The fence, she says, "You better let my little boy alone, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Er 'Greedy,' next he whips yer dog, shall whip you, too!" | 12 | ·/˘········· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.