Slippery Slim
Slippery Slim, a garter snake,
Leaned against a garden rake
And smiled a sentimental smile
At Tilly Toad, on the gravel pile,
Till that bashful miss was forced to hop
And hide her face in a carrot-top.
Illustration by Blanche Fisher Wright
First published in The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918).
You can almost picture it — a warm afternoon in the garden, a lazy rake left leaning, and a snake who clearly thinks he’s quite the gentleman. Blanche Fisher Wright must have smiled as she drew it: Slim with his sly grin, and poor Tilly looking as if she’s never been flirted with before.
There’s something charmingly ridiculous about it — a bashful love story acted out in a vegetable patch. The snake is all confidence, the toad all nerves, and somehow it feels almost real.
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