Banjo Paterson

The Protest

identity memory ballad playful

I say 'e isn't Remorse! 'Ow do I know? Saw 'im on Riccarton course Two year ago! Think I'd forget any 'orse? Course 'e's The Crow! Bumper Maginnis and I After a "go", Walkin' our 'orses to dry, I says "Hello! What's that old black goin' by?" Bumper says "Oh! That's an old cuddy of Flanagan's -- Runs as The Crow!" Now they make out 'e's Remorse. Well, but I know. Soon as I came on the course I says "'Ello! 'Ere's the old Crow." Once a man's seen any 'orse, Course 'e must know. Sure as there's wood in this table, I say 'e's The Crow. (Cross-examied by the Committee.) 'Ow do I know the moke After one sight? S'posin' you meet a bloke Down town at night, Wouldn't you know 'im again when you meet 'im? That's 'im all right! What was the brand on 'is 'ide? I couldn't say, Brands can be transmogrified. That ain't the way -- It's the look of a 'orse and the way that 'e moves That I'd know any day. What was the boy on 'is back? Why, 'e went past All of a minute, and off down the track. -- "The 'orse went as fast?" True, so 'e did! But my eyes, what a treat! 'Ow can I notice the 'ands and the seat Of each bumble-faced kid of a boy that I meet? Lor'! What a question to ast! (Protest Dismissed)

The Protest - meaning Summary

Unwavering Eyewitness Certainty

A speaker stubbornly insists he can identify a horse he saw at a racecourse, arguing that the animals look and carriage reveal its identity more than brands or riders. His comic, defiant testimony before a committee emphasizes local knowledge, memory, and pride in practical expertise while undercutting pedantic questioning about small, irrelevant details.

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