Custard and Company by Ogden Nash
"Custard and Company" by Ogden Nash is a collection of eighty-four whimsical poems, with a notable focus on the character Custard, a pet dragon belonging to a little girl named Belinda. The narrative primarily unfolds through two central poems that depict Custard as a seemingly cowardly dragon, who ultimately proves his bravery when he defends Belinda and her other pets from threats, such as a pirate and a fearsome knight named Sir Garagoyle. Despite his heroic deeds, Custard continues to see himself as cowardly, desiring a safe and comfortable life, a sentiment that resonates throughout the work.
Beyond the tales of Custard, the collection features a variety of animal-themed poems and playful observations on family dynamics, showcasing Nash's unique blend of humor and insight. The themes reflect an appreciation for life's everyday experiences, often highlighting the comedic aspects of domestic relationships without resorting to harsh criticism. Written over several decades, the poems in "Custard and Company" capture Nash's enduring charm and wit, making it a delightful read for those interested in lighthearted poetry.
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Custard and Company by Ogden Nash
First published: 1980
Subjects: Animals and family
Type of work: Poetry
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Form and Content
Of the eighty-four poems forming Ogden Nash’s Custard and Company, only two concern the title character. Custard is a pet dragon belonging to Belinda, a little girl who lives in a little white house with a mouse, a kitten, and a puppy. The dragon is called Custard because the other pets think him a coward. In the first poem, “The Tale of Custard the Dragon,” Custard simply longs for the safety of a “nice cage,” while Ink the cat and Blink the mouse chase lions down the stairs and Mustard the dog brags of his own bravery. Yet, when a pirate—with a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in his teeth—comes through the window, Belinda and her pets cry for help. Custard, “snorting like an engine,” defends his friends, quickly devouring the pirate. A celebration ensues, and although Custard is praised as a hero, the cat, dog, and mouse still insist on their own personal bravery. Custard agrees that they are truly braver than he and longs once again for a safe, comfortable place like a cage.
The second Custard poem, the longest in the book at about 125 lines, expands on the first. Since having eaten the pirate, Custard spends his days dozing comfortably on the floor, dreaming “dragon dreams” as Belinda goes about her housework. One morning as Belinda is drying the dishes, she breaks into a song about Sir Garagoyle, a wicked knight who lives in a mountain castle. Ink the cat, Blink the mouse, and Mustard the dog reassure their mistress that they are not cowardly like Custard and that should Sir Garagoyle ever threaten her, they would come to her rescue. Just then, Sir Garagoyle appears, “twice as big as a gorilla,” and the three pets flee as the knight carries off Belinda to his castle. Belinda’s screams rouse Custard. He calls to the others to help, but each finds an excuse to conceal its own cowardice: Mustard complains of a toothache that would prevent him from biting, Ink claims a case of mumps, and Blink cries about an ingrown whisker.
Angry, Custard takes off “like a rocket” and swoops down at Sir Garagoyle’s gates. Despite the knight’s threats, Custard blows down the gates and battles Sir Garagoyle, flattening him “like tin foil” with his tail. Rushing down to the cave, Custard frees the enchained Belinda and carries her back home. Ink, Blink, and Mustard happily greet the pair and then tell Custard that he has returned just in time to chase from the kitchen a rabbit who has been eating the carrots. Custard declines, reminding them that he has always been cowardly, especially of rabbits. Although his fellow pets jeer, Belinda insists that although truly a coward, Custard “makes the nicest pet.”
Many of the other poems in the book, some forty or more, treat an array of animals and animal-like creatures, the “company” of the book’s title. Zoo animals such as the ostrich, the turtle, the panther, the rhinoceros (“how prepoceros”), and the camel come playfully into focus one by one, followed even by an imaginary beast called the Wendigo, whose eyes are “ice and indigo.”
Finally, a group of poems treats special family situations and relationships. “To the Small Boy Standing on My Shoes While I Am Wearing Them” is a typical example, showing an adult’s good-humored frustration at a child’s playful exuberance. Several “Uncle” poems punctuate the comedy of family life—from Uncle Ed, who has three heads, to Uncle Hannibal, who is becoming a cannibal.
Critical Context
As early as 1936, Ogden Nash was producing poems that centered either on children or on adults’ relationship with them. In fact, “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” was originally published in that year and collected in The Bad Parents’ Garden of Verses. Some of his most famous animal poems, such as “The Turtle,” appeared even earlier, in Hard Lines (1931). Thus, Custard and Company is in effect an anthology of some of Nash’s most representative work, containing as it does poems written at the beginning of his career in the early 1930’s and spanning three decades to include verse published at the peak of his powers in the early 1960’s.
Custard and Company shows a writer who, like James Thurber and Robert Benchley, to whom he has often been compared, holds a comic vision about life’s more mundane experiences. As a humorist, Nash often scoffs at himself as a representative of the “average guy,” a comic Everyman who invariably sees the incongruities in domestic relationships but never indicts the world at large or meanly satirizes it. Little in his wit suggests desperation or bitterness, only a wry awareness of life’s inanities. His poetic voice is sane, tolerant, and gentle.