4. Then came the _staff_, and beat the dog That bit the cat, That ate the kid, That my father bought, For two pieces of money: A kid, a kid. 5. Then came the _fire_, and burned the staff That beat the dog, _&c._,――as before. 6. Then came the _water_ and quenched the fire. That burned the staff, That beat the dog, _&c._ 7. Then came the _ox_, and drank the water, That quenched the fire, _&c._ 8. Then came the _butcher_ and slew the ox That drank the water, _&c._ 9. Then came the _Angel of death_ And killed the butcher That slew the ox, _&c._ 10. Then came the _Holy One_, blessed be He, And killed the Angel of death That killed the butcher That slew the ox That drank the water That quenched the fire That burned the staff That beat the dog That bit the cat That ate the kid That my father bought For two pieces of money: A kid, a kid. _The following is an interpretation of the allegory_:―― 1. The Kid which is one of the pure animals denotes the Hebrews. The father, by whom it is purchased, is Jehovah, who represents himself as sustaining this relation to the Hebrew nation. The pieces of money signify Moses and Aaron, through whose medium the Hebrews were brought out of Egypt. 2. The Cat denotes the Assyrians by whom the ten tribes were carried into captivity. 3. The dog is symbolical of the Babylonians. 4. The staff signified the Persians. 5. The fire indicates the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great. 6. The water betokens the Romans, or the fourth of the great monarchies to whom the Jews were subjected. 7. The ox is a symbol of the Saracens who subdued Palestine, and brought it under the Caliphate. 8. The butcher that killed the ox denotes the Crusaders by whom the Holy Land was wrested out of the hands of the Saracens. 9. The Angel of death signifies the Turkish powers by which the land of Palestine was taken from the Franks, to whom it is still subject. 10. The commencement of the tenth stanza is designed to show that God will take signal vengeance on the Turks, immediately after whose overthrow the Jews are to be restored to their own land, and live under the Government of their long expected Messiah. A somewhat similar accumulative poem to the “House that Jack built” is mentioned in Chodzko’s _Popular Poetry of Persia_; it runs thus:―― “I went upon the mountain top to tend my flock. Seeing there a girl, I said, ‘Lass, give me a kiss.’ She said, ‘Lad, give me some money.’ I said, ‘The money is in the purse, the purse in the wallet, the wallet on the camel, and the camel in Kerman.’ She said, ‘You wish for a kiss, but the kiss lies behind my teeth, my teeth are locked up, the key is with my mother, and my mother, like your camel, is in Kerman.’”