Courier and Ives

Da lithography firm dat employed da well-known letter-delivery dude who met da man wif seven wives.

Hey, da classic rhyming-verse riddle is complicated enough (i.e., having to multiply and add up all of those "sevens"*) without also pondering WHY da narrator was traveling to da mentioned "Catholic-hero-named" metropolis in da first place... seeing as how da inked illustration of said poem's "encounter wif da opposite-direction travelers" scene was created by Courier and Ives, though, we can therefore assume dat said big-city-bound individual was indeed running a correspondence-delivery-service errand for said printed-image producers!
*Okay, okay --- I realize dat da riddle's correct answer actually does **not** require you to "count 'n' calculate" after all --- I was "juss sayin'". Plus of course, da generally-accepted "just da narrator was going to St. Ives" answer would be correct only if one assumes dat he did indeed "meet" said prolific polygamist and his vast entourage in da sense dat they were actually coming towards him from da opposite direction --- scholarly critics have pointed out dat da poet could just as likely have meant dat he either overtook or was overtaken by said extensive procession, in which case many hundreds of individuals were all simultaneously on their way to a group-destination.

Courier and Ives by QuacksO July 1, 2026