Note: Textual analysis shows that the text of this poem is a modified and abridged version of the poem "Ben Ali the Egyptian". The latter was published in "St. Nicholas Magazine", July 1892 (Volume XIX, No. 9), pp. 696-700, where it was attributed to Jack Bennett. Garrett's version first appeared throughout his story "The Foreign Hand Tie", which was first published in 1961. In 1987 Garrett's version was reprinted as a single poem in "Takeoff Too!", a collection of Garrett's fiction, and attributed to Garrett. At that time Garrett was in a coma and unable to explain the provenance of the poem.