Invitation to Lubberland
The rivers run with claret fine,
The brooks with rich canary,
The ponds with other sorts of wine,
To make your hearts full merry:
Nay, more than this, you may behold,
The fountains flow with brandy,
The rocks are like refined gold,
The hills are sugar candy.
There's nothing there but holy-days
With music out of measure;
Who can forbear to speak the praise
Of such a land of pleasure?
There may you lead a lazy life,
Free from all kind of labour:
And he that is without a wife,
May borrow of his neighbour.
A broadside ballad, "An Invitation to Lubberland", 1685-8, may
have served as a model for "The Big Rock Candy Mountain". Sexual
activity in it is entirely heterosexual, but normal?
In the middle English description of a Utopia, "The Land of
Cokagyne", of the monks in the abbey the tale says, "He schal hab
withoute danger xij. wives euch yere", evidently from among those
in the nunnery. AB
WBO
Bruce Olson
Apr98
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!