When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold Gilbert and Sullivan

[RUTH]
When you had left our pirate fold,
We tried to raise our spirits faint
According to our customs old,
With quip and quibbles quaint
But all in vain the quips we heard,
We lay and sobb'd upon the rocks,
Until to somebody occurred a startling paradox

[FREDERIC]
A paradox?

[RUTH]
A paradox a most ingenious paradox!
We've quips and quibbles heard in flocks,
But none to beat this paradox!

[RUTH, FREDERIC & PIRATE KING]
A paradox, a paradox,
A most ingenious paradox
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
This paradox!

[PIRATE KING]
We knew your taste for curious quips,
For cranks and contradictions queer;
And with the laughter on your lips
We wish'd you there to hear
We said "if we could tell it him,
How Fre'ric would the joke enjoy"
And so we've risk'd both life and limb
To tell it to our boy!