We've fought with many men acrost the seas,
An' some of 'em was brave an' some was not:
The Paythan an' the Zulu an' Burmese;
But the Fuzzy was the finest o' the lot.
We never got a ha'porth's change of 'im:
'E squatted in the scrub an' 'ocked our 'orses,
'E cut our sentries up at Sua~kim~,
An' 'e played the cat an' banjo with our forces.
So 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man;
We gives you your certificate, an' if you want it signed
We'll come an' 'ave a romp with you whenever you're inclined.
We took our chanst among the Khyber 'ills,
The Boers knocked us silly at a mile,
The Burman give us Irriwaddy chills,
An' a Zulu ~impi~ dished us up in style:
But all we ever got from such as they
Was pop to what the Fuzzy made us swaller;
We 'eld our bloomin' own, the papers say,
But man for man the Fuzzy knocked us 'oller.
Then 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an' the missis and the kid;
Our orders was to break you, an' of course we went an' did.
We sloshed you with Martinis, an' it wasn't 'ardly fair;
But for all the odds agin' you, Fuzzy-Wuz, you broke the square.
'E 'asn't got no papers of 'is own,
'E 'asn't got no medals nor rewards,
So we must certify the skill 'e's shown
In usin' of 'is long two-'anded swords:
When 'e's 'oppin' in an' out among the bush
With 'is coffin-'eaded shield an' shovel-spear,
An 'appy day with Fuzzy on the rush
Will last an 'ealthy Tommy for a year.
So 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an' your friends which are no more,
If we 'adn't lost some messmates we would 'elp you to deplore;
But give an' take's the gospel, an' we'll call the bargain fair,
For if you 'ave lost more than us, you crumpled up the square!
'E rushes at the smoke when we let drive,
An', before we know, 'e's 'ackin' at our 'ead;
'E's all 'ot sand an' ginger when alive,
An' 'e's generally shammin' when 'e's dead.
'E's a daisy, 'e's a ducky, 'e's a lamb!
'E's a injia-rubber idiot on the spree,
'E's the on'y thing that doesn't give a damn
For a Regiment o' British Infantree!
So 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan;
You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man;
An' 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with your 'ayrick 'ead of 'air —
You big black boundin' beggar — for you broke a British square!
Notes
(Soudan Expeditionary Force)
A tribute to the Hadendowah, who where the first to breach and break-through to the centre of a square. (A defencive formation used by the infantry, each side of the square would contain two lines of troops. The first would kneel with bayonets raised, the second would stand and fire.) This formation had never been broken until the fuzzy-Wuzzies (black Dervish warriors) in the battle of Abu Klea.
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Makes me feel
All warm and fuzzy inside
- seriously, one more engagement or war or whatever that the British fought. Learn something new every day.
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Ocked at our orses....Our horses hocks were slashed to criple them.
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Some attempts to clarify:
The Paythan (also Pathan: Afghan tribe)
"We never got a ha'porth's change of 'im"
We never got a half-penny's worth of change out of him; the American equivalent might be, "he never gave us any slack, he never cut us a break."
"E squatted in the scrub an' 'ocked our 'orses"
Unless UK slang has a different meaning for "hocked," this would be "he hid in the brush and stole our horses" (which would reduce the British maneuverability).
"An' 'e played the cat an' banjo with our forces."
"Cat and banjo" may have the sense of "teasing" or "distracting" (the expression appears in one of the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery stories).
"pore benighted 'eathen" = poor benighted heathen
"We gives you your certificate, an' if you want it signed
We'll come an' 'ave a romp with you whenever you're inclined."
We attest that this is true (we give you this credential) and if you want it signed (validated), we will come fight you again." Kipling is having it both ways: saluting the enemy's courage while threatening to return.
"We took our chanst among the Khyber 'ills,"
We took our chances among the Khyber hills (the Khyber Pass, on the Afghan/Pakistan border)
"The Boers knocked us silly at a mile,"
The Dutch-speaking South Africans gave us a hard time militarily
"The Burman give us Irriwaddy chills,"
Irriwaddy river, Burma
"An' a Zulu ~impi~ dished us up in style"
Impi (pl. Izimpi) is a Zulu word for "army." "A Zulu army beat us up badly."
"But all we ever got from such as they
Was pop to what the Fuzzy made us swaller;"
All the trouble we had from these others was like soda pop compared to the (bitter drink) the Fuzzy made us swallow."
"We 'eld our bloomin' own, the papers say,
But man for man the Fuzzy knocked us 'oller."
The newspapers said we held our own, but man for man the Fuzzy knocked us hollow -- beat us soundly.
"We sloshed you with Martinis..."
The Martini-Henry rifle, a mainstay of British imperialism. Kipling may also be punning with the name of the alcoholic drink; my dictionary shows martini in this sense used in 1894.
'E 'asn't got no papers of 'is own,
'E 'asn't got no medals nor rewards,
So we must certify the skill 'e's shown
In usin' of 'is long two-'anded swords:
He doesn't have documentation; his army doesn't give medals or awards. So we British will certify his skill in using swords.
"An 'appy day with Fuzzy on the rush
Will last an 'ealthy Tommy for a year."
A 'happy' day chasing (or being chased by) Fuzzy will do a healthy Tommy (Atkins - generic British soldier) for a year.
"So 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an' your friends which are no more,
If we 'adn't lost some messmates we would 'elp you to deplore;"
Here's to you and your dead comrades; if we hadn't lost friends of our own, we'd help you mourn the loss of yours.
"'E rushes at the smoke when we let drive,
An', before we know, 'e's 'ackin' at our 'ead;"
He charges at the smoke when we fire and before we know it, he's hacking at our head (with his swords).
"'E's all 'ot sand an' ginger when alive,
An' 'e's generally shammin' when 'e's dead."
He's full of hot sand (his desert home) and ginger (feistiness, spirit) when he's alive, and he's generally faking when (we think) he's dead.
"'E's a injia-rubber idiot on the spree,"
India-rubber may refer to his dark skin, or to his unpredictable tactics, or both.
"An' 'ere's ~to~ you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with your 'ayrick 'ead of 'air --"
The name Fuzzy-Wuzzy appears to come from the hairstyle of the Muslims fighting under the Mahdi. Here's a link to an old postcard (early 20th century): http://www.postcardman.net/50999.jpg
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My great grandfather, Ernest Robins, fought the Fuzzy-Wazzies around the turn of the century. He was a soldier in the English army. They were one of the few tribes the English feared to fight due to their aggressive nature. My great grandfather while fighting them took a spear in the thigh, but manahed to survive the rest of his campaign in Africa.
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Well, it was difficult to read, but I think I basically got what the speaker was trying to say. The diction was, of course, that of a soldier (or so I assume from the 'we' and 'us'). If this poem had been written in standard diction I wouldn't have believed that the speaked was actually there. Perhaps just someone from another time and place telling the story.
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Now this is one time I could use a non BBC type to read this to me. Somehow trying to pull it from the page as it is intended AND to decipher the history and the magic of the write is more than this little ole 'mercan gal kin handle at one time.
The description of the square concept was helpful. The discussion regarding offensive or not, though interesting, wasn't much help.
This feels much like my first attempts to read the Marriott Edgar - Albert Ramsbottom series. It took many tries but finally it all just fell into place. (The next step had me trying my hand at that same dialect -
allpoetry.com/Poem/455887 )
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I see that all through out the write he drops the "h" from the words and the pronunciation kinda gives you fits until you figure out the scheme of things. I also thought that he was not belittling this race but rather congratulating them on their battle prowess.
I saw that some made small work of Kipling for writing about this but I think you have to stop and realise that if in the era when he wrote this it was the world view of how things was and not todays views firstly and then secondly it wasnt his fault if the army had an advantage over another culture. But even today I will note that not all cultures are on a even keel when it comes to technology or even farming. I think we are all men/women of our times. Everyone wants to feel accepted and usually goes with the majority's vote. If you dont believe me just look at our last president, Bill Clinton, I didnt vote for him...........lol.
I enjoyed the write for its historical worth, though it was harder to read than I usually like in poetry. -
Looking into the history behind this poem was very interesting and really brings the poem and its unusual words into a new understanding.
The poem gives a very good tribute, even though today it could be seen as condercending, I don't beliebe this was the intent at the time of writing.
The diction Kipling uses in this piece, I feel does it little justice, (maybe just because I speak BBC English), just a little too low for my comfort.
Andrew -
Thanks Silica, I truthfully couldn't make hide nor hair of this poem and was waiting for someone to illuminate me. Now I may precede on with my homework.
Jen -
Ha yes – brimming over with gung ho bullshit – the glory of war and how brave those that perished at the hands of a much superiorly equipped army – rather the same sort of ‘sport’ as blowing a few hundred ducks out of the sky.
Kipling despite his undoubted skill often used a lower level of diction to give his work greater appeal to both in the lower ranks in and in conjunction with the army and the high ranks in the form of ‘good chap’.
ha'porth's – is, a half penny’s worth
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excellent poetry
haporth worth of change? im not sure what this means
kipling was indeed a man of his times but how anyone could read this poem and call it disparaging of the black man is beyond me. the whole poem speaks of the courage and skill at arms the sudanese natives showed, marvelous poetry
mind you i like robert service too. -
Fuzzy-Wuzzy - a term of disparagment and abuse in Kipling's time, and would be today if it was used. Hopefully racial awareness not to mention the race relations act in the UK would ensure its not. It was the term used in my childhood to describe black africans because of the nature of their hair. I find this poem difficult to take, as I do much of Kipling. He was a jingoistic, biogotted man, but he was also a man of his time. Awareness was not then what it is now, does this excuse him? Surely all intelligent thinking people at any time should have been conscious of the common humanity of all people despite superficial differences. And he did occasionally write really well, mostly in his short stories though in my opinion, rather than in his poetry.
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I can help you with a bit of history and geography of the Fuzzy-Wuzzies if you can help me with the translation of what that meant in 'modern' English as I am Egyptian.
To begin with they're the same Med-Jai of the ancient Egyptians, got you interested? 
So waiting for your email about the 'translation' of this interesting poem.
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Fuzzy Wuzzy... what a name for a fierce man! Interesting... it's like one of those oxy-moron things. Makes for a good write and an even better read.
Kate
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