Growltiger was a bravo cat who travelled on a barge In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims Rejoicing in his title of the "Terror of the Thames" His manners and appearance did not calculate to please His coat was torn and seedy, it was baggy at the knees One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame At Hammersmith and Putney, people shuddered at his name They would fortify the hen house, lock up the silly goose When the rumor ran along the shore: Growltiger's on the loose! Woe to the weak canary that fluttered from its cage Woe to the pampered Pekinese, that faced Growltiger's rage Woe the bristly bandicoot that lurks on foreign ships And woe to any cat with whom Growltiger came to grips But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed To cats of foreign name and race, no quarter was allowed The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear Now on a peaceful summer night all nature seemed at play The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molsey lay All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side