In after-dinner talk,
Across the walnuts and the wine.

In after-dinner talk,
Across the walnuts and the wine.

I hate
To tell again a tale once fully told.

I hate
To tell again a tale once fully told.

When thou dost tell another's jest, therein
Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need;
Pick out read more

When thou dost tell another's jest, therein
Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need;
Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the sin.

And what so tedious as a twice-told tale.

And what so tedious as a twice-told tale.

But that's another story.

But that's another story.

With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which
holdeth children from play, and old men read more

With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which
holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner.

His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch
The other read more

His eye begets occasion for his wit;
For every object that the one doth catch
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest,
Which his fair tongue, conceit's expositor,
Delivers in such apt and gracious words,
That aged ears play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished,
So sweet and voluble is his discourse.

If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.

If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.

For seldom shall she hear a tale
So said, so tender, yet so true.

For seldom shall she hear a tale
So said, so tender, yet so true.