What a strangely discursive thread, full of odd tangents. I think Burton would approve.
Just to add to the mix, yet another headless bear. This predates Burton's and may be where he got it?
It is from Puck, in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3 Scene 1:
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
There is something rather sinister about the Mad Gardner's Song... it does seem to make a scary sense. For one thing, all the stanzas (with the possible exception of the Double Rule of Three, which s still as clear as mud to us), end on an ominous note.
I believe Charles Dodgson had an uncle involved in running an insane asylum.
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