Who knew? I had only ever seen it in poem-form in an anthology. When I was looking it up online to share with you, I discovered that The Tale of Custard the Cowardly Dragon was even made into an illustrated children’s book. Yes, one of those was about a dragon: Custard the Cowardly Dragon, to be exact. On my to-read-someday list is a collection of Nash’s work-I’ve only ever read a few scattered pieces in varying anthologies. To this day, I still swear by the truth of his statements on centipedes, and I’m terribly curious to know what rattlesnake tastes like. You’ll find it tastes a lot like chicken.’īecause it tastes like rattlesnake meat.” A lot of his poems showed up in various beloved anthologies from my childhood, and I still remember poems like these two: Have you heard of him? He’s the poet (1902-1971) who wrote wonderfully catchy little rhymes like God in His wisdom made the fly / and then forgot to tell us why or The trouble with a kitten is that / eventually it becomes a cat. I was thinking about Ogden Nash yesterday. My new goal? Instead of promising that my posts will appear on certain days and then feeling guilty when life happens and I don’t make it, I’ll aim for Monday/Wednesday posts yet promise nothing more than to stay as close to two posts a week as I humanly can. Not only that, when I started this blog, I said I would post every Monday and Wednesday-yet some weeks I post on Tuesday or Friday or some other day instead. Last week, I promised I would be back on Monday, but it’s not Monday-it’s already Tuesday. I’ve learned that in the blogging world, as anywhere, you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep. Nash wrote a second story about Custard, Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight (1961).Today I’m pondering poetry (yes, poetry can deal with dragons!), but a quick note first: The Tale of Custard the Dragon, illustrated by Munsinger, was re-published in 1998 (USA). A film directed by Peter Rubin was released in 1965. Puff the Magic Dragon sung and performed by Peter, Paul and, Mary (1963) was inspired by Nash’s poem (Lipton and Yarrow, 1958). He wrote Dragon Custard to inspire and teach the value of courage. He often used animals as subject matter to create thought-provoking and absurd poems full of misspellings and silliness. Nash was not only a poet he was a social commentator. It is a funny poem about not judging someone by their appearance.

Although Custard likes being safe and comfortable, he is the only one with the courage to face the pirate who breaks into Belinda’s house. However, Custard is not really a coward, in fact he proves he is braver than Belinda and the other pets. They call the fourth, Custard the Dragon a coward because he cries for ‘a nice, safe cage’. Belinda and three of her pets see themselves as very brave. Written as a ballad, the poem tells the story of Belinda and her pets.

Ogden nash custard the dragon