One from One Leaves Two
One from One Leaves Two - meaning Summary
Satire of Economic Logic
Ogden Nash satirically compresses modern economic and bureaucratic absurdities into a playful nursery-song voice. Through examples—a hen fined or subsidized, a cow producing less, neighbors destroying a successful crop—he mocks perverse incentives, taxation, and government intervention that reward failure and punish productivity. The poem ends with a darkly comic prayer that the taxman will have claimed even the speaker’s soul, underscoring its critique of fiscal policy and public administration.
Read Complete AnalysesHiggledy piggledy, my black hen, She lays eggs for gentlemen. Gentlemen come every day To count what my black hen doth lay. If perchance she lays too many, They fine my hen a pretty penny; If perchance she fails to lay, The gentlemen a bonus pay. Mumbledy pumbledy, my red cow, She’s cooperating now. At first she didn’t understand That milk production must be planned; She didn’t understand at first She either had to plan or burst, But now the government reports She’s giving pints instead of quarts. Fiddle de dee, my next-door neighbors, They are giggling at their labors. First they plant the tiny seed, Then they water, then they weed, Then they hoe and prune and lop, They they raise a record crop, Then they laugh their sides asunder, And plow the whole caboodle under. Abracadabra, thus we learn The more you create, the less you earn. The less you earn, the more you’re given, The less you lead, the more you’re driven, The more destroyed, the more they feed, The more you pay, the more they need, The more you earn, the less you keep, And now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to take If the tax-collector hasn’t got it before I wake.
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