Piratical good humour

I have loved the operetta The Pirates of Penzance for a very long time. I must admit, however, that I hear the following exchange much differently now than I did when I was thirteen.

Frederick:    Ruth, I will be quite candid with you. You are very dear to me, as you know, but I must be circumspect. You see, you are considerably older than I. A lad of twenty-one usually looks for a wife of seventeen.

Ruth:    A wife of seventeen? You will find me a wife of a thousand!

Frederick:    No, but I shall find you a wife of forty-seven, and that is quite enough.

Indeed. Interestingly, the subtitle of Pirates is The Slave of Duty. Isn't karma playful?