Lewis Carroll, 1871
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
I probably first encountered this poem at my local library, in an illustrated picture book. When I was in college, I took a course on English Language and Linguistics, and we analyzed this poem, during the unit on Old English if I recall correctly. It was a lot of fun analyzing the nonsensical words in the poem and trying to figure out what they meant or conveyed based on their sound and context. It’s also a fantastic poem to read out loud, in both senses of the word, especially since there’s so many words that almost sound like common English words.
There’s also a powerful sword called the vorpal blade in D&D with the following properties:
You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. In addition, the weapon ignores resistance to slashing damage.
When you attack a creature that has at least one head with this weapon and roll a 20 on the attack roll, you cut off one of the creature's heads. The creature dies if it can't survive without the lost head. A creature is immune to this effect if it is immune to slashing damage, doesn't have or need a head, has legendary actions, or the GM decides that the creature is too big for its head to be cut off with this weapon. Such a creature instead takes an extra 6d8 slashing damage from the hit.
I don’t recall a campaign I’ve played where I’ve gotten my hands on one, but it’s one of those items I dream of scoring one day. It can take the form of a greatsword, a longsword, or a scimitar, which means I could have a Jabberwocky-themed knight or pirate someday.
The Badger Den 