The Ballad of Ahmed Shah
This is the ballad of Ahmed Shah
Dealer in tats in the Sudder Bazar,
By the gate that leads to the Gold Minar
How he was done by a youth from Morar.
Ahmed Shah was a man of peace -
His beard and turban were thick with grease:
His paunch was huge and his speech was slow
And he swindled the subalterns high and low,
Scores of subalterns came to try
The tats that he sold - and remained to buy,
Scores of subalterns later on
Found that their flashiest mounts were 'gone' -
Some in the front and some behind
Some were roarers and some went blind -
Scores of subalterns over their 'weeds'
Cursed old Ahmed and all his deeds.
But Ahmed Shah in his gully sat still -
And ever he fashioned a Little Black Pill!
Yet a judgement was brewing for Ahmed Shah,
Like a witches cauldron, in far Morar
And the youth that brewed it has eyes of blue
And his cheek was beardless and boundless too.
Softly he mused o'er a trichi thick:-
'By the Beard of the Prophet I've got the trick!'
Then he rose from his chair with an artless grin
And called the Battery Sergeant in:-
'Sergeant' he said 'Hasst aught for me
In the way of a 'caster' with lots of gee ?'
The sergeant pondered and answered slow
'There's a red-roan gelding that's bound to go
At the next Committee. 'E ain't no use
Excep' for kickin' recruits to the deuce,
'E's chained in the sick lines.'
The subaltern's brow
Was puckered with thought for a moment. Then
The sergeant was richer by rupees ten.
'When the next Committee sits' quoth he
'O Sergeant buy up that brute for me.'
So the plot was laid and the long weeks passed
And the red-road gelding was duly cast.
They led him in chains to the subaltern's stall
And gave him his gram' through a hole in the wall.
The subaltern mixed it. When morning came
The red-road gelding was strangely tame.
He bit not nor kicked nor essayed to slay
And he and the sub went north that day
Till they came to the gully of Ahmed Shah
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poem by Rudyard Kipling
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