Cy Nye, Prevaricator

Cy
Nye
Thunder, how he'll lie!
Never has to stop and think--never has to try.
Says he had a settin' hen that acted clean possessed;
Says a kag o' powder couldn't shake her off her nest;
Didn't mind a flannel rag tied around her tail;
Ev'ry now and then he'd take 'er, souse 'er in a pail;
Never had the least effect--feathers even friz;
Then she set and pecked the ice, but 'tended right to biz.
'Peared to care for nothin' else 'cept to set and set;
Didn't seem to care a tunket what she drunk or et.
Cy he said he got so mad he thought he'd use
'er ha'ash,
So he went to feedin' on 'er hemlock sawdust mash.
Hen she gobbled down the stuff, reg'lar as could be;
"Reely seemed to fat 'er up," Cy says he to me.
Shows the power of the mind when it gets a clutch.
Hen imagined it was bran--helped 'er just as much.
Then she hid her nest away--laid a dozen eggs;
'Leven chickens that she hatched all had wooden legs,
T'other egg it wouldn't hatch--solid junk o' wood,
Hen's a-wrasslin' with it yet--thinks the thing is good.
Thunder, how he'll lie!
But he's dry,
--That Cy.
Cy
Nye
Tells another lie:
Claims to be the strongest man around here; this is why:
Says he bought a side o' beef up to Johnson's store,
Tucked it underneath his arm--didn't mind it more
Than a pound o' pickled tripe; sauntered down the road,
Got to ponderin' Bible texts--clean forgot his load.
All to once he chanced to think he meant to get some meat,
Hustled back to Johnson's store t'other end the street,
Bought another side o' beef. The boys commenced to laugh,
--Vummed he hadn't sensed till then he lugged the other half.
Can't deny
'T he can lie,
--That Cy.