Prince Ananias
An Original Comic Opera
As first produced at the Broadway Theatre, N. Y.
by "The Bostonians"
Libretto by Francis Neilson
Music by Victor August Herbert, 1859-1924
Vocal Selection [No. 8 of 9]
"When I Was Born I Weighed Ten Stone" (1894)
Duo and Chorus.
Louis & George.

New York: Edward Schuberth & Co.
(J. P. H. Meyer)
London: E. Ascherberg & Co.
Leipzig: C. Dieckmann
[Source: 074/166@Levy]

1.
[Louis]
When I was born I weighed ten stone,
[George]
'Tis true I held the scale;
[Louis]
So large was I in head and bone;
[George]
These facts none dare assail,
These facts none, none dare assail.
[Louis]
All languages I spoke with ease,
And by the roots I pulled up trees;
My head was of gigantic size,
Moses, to me, was far from wise:
This is no fairy tale,
This is no fairy tale.

[sung after each verse]
CHORUS
Oh, Fiction can't surpass the truth,
Oh, fiction can't surpass the truth,
Phenomenal! phenomenal! phenomeal, prodigious youth!
[George]
One equalled him: he's dead and gone.
What two? Absurd! oh no just one.
Rely on him implicitly,
He detests prevarication;
There never breath'd a prdigy
Like this wonder of our nation.
CHORUS
One equall'd him: he's dead and gone.
What two? Absurd! oh no just one.
Rely on him implicitly,
He detests precarication;
There never breath'd a prodigy,
[George]
like the wonder of our nation.
CHORUS
nation.

2.
[Louis]
When I was ten years to a day;
[George]
Ten years you were, dear prince;
[Louis]
Then I sat down to write a play;
[George]
You wrote it inch by inch,
you wrote it inch by inch by inch.
[Louis]
The plot was now, the characters,
As true as life that never errs,
With virtue filled was ev'ry act,
It's running yet, it is a fact:
A managerial cinch,
A managerial cinch.