“I’ll do the signs,” he said.
“The signs?”
“You know… The jaws that bite…” and he made a biting motion with his mouth. “The claws that snatch…” and he made a clawing motion with his fingers in the air.
Today was the Culture Fair, a day when parents come in and share tasty treats from their home countries. Or share their music. Or they dress up in folksy ways from different parts of the globe. And this was the day when they find a room with comfy pillows for kids to gather round to hear the Jabberwocky in English and French and German, even though I have no tasty treats, nor music, nor dress-up.
Twas brillig…, I tell them. And then Il briligue…. And then Es brillig war… I know you have heard me tell of this, because I do it every year for the fourth graders. And every year, I pantomime the highlights so that the kids might better follow along with the French rendition and then the German. I make biting motions with my mouth and clawing motions with my fingers.
So now I was to do it for two classes together instead of the smaller groups that had been coming by. And this boy, who had been in one of the smaller groups from earlier walked up.
“I’ll do the signs.”
“Deal.” I said. “I’ll give you hints if you need them.”
There were the jaws and the claws, of course. There was the Jubjub bird. And there was the vorpal blade in his hands. Longtime the maxome foe he sought… I had to remind him to make a searching motion with his hand above his eyebrows. There was the Tumtum tree. And there was standing in uffish thought.
There was the one-two, one-two and through and through, which he did masterfully which should come as no surprise. And he made as if he were holding up the head as the kids in the class shouted, “Like Medusa!”
And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
As tu tué le Jaseroque?
Und schlugst du ya den Jammerwoch?
This was his favorite. Even in the French and the German, he needed no clues from me. He held out his arms and he jumped up and down on this most frabjous of days, Calooh Callay.