Chutzpah, or: Vorpal

A sequel to ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll

Past twestif, all the nochky kreets
      Did stwirk and smiggle in the glood:
All thungry were the zilligeets,
      And the narvips twitwoo’d.

“Acquire that Wocky’s head, I must-
      Those jaws that bit- from he who fought!
Acquire its head, upending trust,
      As none were there to see it caught!” 

With gobsack slung upon his back,
      And sparing innish lad no thought
Who “Callay!” murmured in his dreams,
       Grim trophy found that he had sought.

And, as thrilated there he stood,
      The groary sire, of same surname,
Came ‘pon him in dishmardened room,
      Exhuffling as he came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
      The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
Fool thief fell dead, and then his head
      Fell ‘pon his fuffed gobsack.

“My boy was he who slew the ‘wock!
      He’s earned the Queen of Heart’s reward!
Arrogous crook! Gitfoo! Gitfook!”
      Leaned, spent, upon the bloory sword.

Past twestif, all the nochky kreets
      Did stwirk and smiggle in the glood:
All thungry were the zilligeets,
      And the narvips twitwoo’d.
The Jabberwock, as illustrated by John Tenniel, 1871

15 thoughts on “Chutzpah, or: Vorpal”

    1. Perhaps I should have explained this poem better. Have you read Alice in Wonderland? The originally Jabberwocky is from there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky

      It is one of (if not the) most famous nonsense poems ever written… but the amazing thing is that Carroll’s nonsense words have meanings – you can find glossaries for them online by searching for “Jabberwocky words meanings” or something of the like.

      Carroll’s (and my) words are called “Nonce Words” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonce_word

      For example, if you look at his original poem, he came up with the concept of ‘Brillig’ which Humpty Dumpty (in the book) explained, “‘Brillig’ means four o’clock in the afternoon, the time when you begin broiling things for dinner” (it is derived from the verb to bryl or broil).

      So I also came up with a time of day – twestif – which is a portmanteau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau) of two words: ‘twilight’ and ‘digestif’ – which is a late hour, around twilight, when one has finished dinner and has enjoyed his dessert wine.

      1. Yesh but it’s been so so long ago. I read it when I was barely a kid reading the book for the story and much less for the language 😅
        I figured it would be a portmanteau, but just couldn’t figure out twilight and what else you used… I thought apperitif but that didn’t make sense either xD
        Thanks for explaining it so beautifully! Now gotta check out these links too. ☺☺

  1. Decidedly delightful!!!! Love queen of heart’s new vocabulary. And the way it sounds in my head
    Way to go!

    1. thanks 🙂

      this was more difficult than I’d expected – coming up with words that are nonsense but make sense to the author isn’t easy.

      it gave me a new appreciation for Carroll – he really put thought into all those words of Jabberwocky. (you can find glossaries online for the original)

      1. Must’ve been truly an adventure…writing this. Yep. Recognised it as jabberwocky…ergo..really impressed. Nicely done! What’s next

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