Limerick Corner: Sussex Vampire

Two more limericks today:

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire

There’s a beautiful wife from Peru
Whose behavior has Bob in a stew.
He tells Holmes that she’s wild;
That she’s bitten their child.
Can it be we’ve a vampire in view?
-Issac Asimov, BSI

The Sussex Vampire

Though Ferguson hoped for protection
From a vampire, Holmes’s detection
Revealed that the nibbling
Was caused by the sibling,
Begrudging his father’s affection.
-Wallace W Higgins

Yolanda Vazquez as Carlotta Ferguson (Granada, 1993)

On May 24th…

“Chips” writes:
There is no activity recorded for May 24th in our Chronology. So, we are going to stray into one of my passions in the Sherlockian world.

From my Limerick Corner: I have a rather large collection of Sherlockian Limericks, and I am going to post a few on the case that our chronological dating just started on yesterday. The first limerick is by a rather well-known Sherlockian.

The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
by Isaac Asimov, BSI

Poor old Phelps faces prospects of doom
And yet all he can do is fume.
The pact’s gone — He was sentry —
There’s no sign of an entry
But our Holmes can decode the locked room

The next one was composed by a gentleman I had the pleasure of meeting and corresponding with on the first Sherlockian discussion forum on the Internet. The group is the Hounds of the Internet, which is still going, and I have the pleasure of being a member of it.

The gentleman I met was posting quite wonderful limericks of his own creation, one for every short story in the Canon. After talking about each limerick as he posted them, he asked for my email address as he had a little gift for me he wanted to send me. I received a copy of every one of his limericks with his permission to publish wherever I felt Sherlockians would enjoy them. I miss Don every day when I hear of or read a limerick… which is every day. I still wish I could have talked him into writing a limerick or two for each of the 4 novels. His answer was always the same, “I am too lazy to do that, It might take too much work.”

Rest in peace, Don.

The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
by Don Dillistone

Responding to Phelps’s entreaty
Holmes found the lost Naval Treaty
But the absconder
Was not from Yonder,
But brother to Phelps’s own Sweetie.
–Don Dillistone, April 2002

Ron Lies’ Weekly Limerick

Ron writes:

I do not think I have posted this one yet. I would be amiss in my posting duties if I did not. Here is the first of Mr. Asimov’ s superb efforts.  What more would or should be said?

Ron aka “Chips”

A Study in Scarlet

Meet the quick mind that restlessly combs
Through he smallest of clues as it roams
From initial confusion
To triumphant conclusion.
My friends, here we have Sherlock Holmes.

Author: Isaac Asimov BSI, from his book, Asimov’s Sherlockian Limericks published by Mysterious Press, New York; 1978

Weekly Limerick: “Chipping” Away at the Humorous Art

Ron Lies “Chips” gives us these two delightful limericks this week. Thank you, as always.

“I have wrought my simple plan if I give one hour of joy to the boy who’s half a man, or the man who’s half a boy.”
— Doyle, Arthur Conan; The Lost World

That dedication describes me to a “T.” That is why my favourite story from the Canon is The Sign of the Four. These limericks are my favourites of them all.

All my best, Chips

The Sign of the Four

Miss Morstan was quite a nice doll,
for her good old Watson did fall,
but with feelings hid,
he joined Holmes and did
down The Thames chase Tonga and Small.

Author: William S Dorn, BSI, from his book, The Limericks of Sherlock Holmes, produced by Pencil Productions, 2005.

I am adding a limerick from that noted Sherlockian, Isaac Asimov, that describes my romantic love affair with my wife Mary for forty-one years and forever.

The Sign of the Four

Muttered Holmes, “Never mind cocaine’s pleasure,
let us seek out the famed Agra Treasure.”
Answered Watson, “No pearls
for myself—only girls;
and it’s Mary that’s made to my measure. “

Author: Isaac Asimov, BSI, from his book, Asimov’s Sherlockian Limericks, published by The Mysterious Press New York, 1978.