↓ Transcript
When the stranger and Cindy at last reached the shore
through thickets of ships and the surf’s fearsome roar
they came on Curr-Mudge wrapped with a bandana[*]
sitting peacefully there in quiet sukhasana,
while on either side the disputants arrayed:
the Gizmorn in their armour, the birds all displayed
in plumage so bright while the Broga-dan-oan
pleaded their case for a place of their own:
"We’re peaceable folk who mean nobody harm
but we’ll no longer serve as slaves on your farms!"
"We’ll give you no choice, unless you’d rather die!"
came the gruffly and gruntly Gizmornan reply.
"You cannot expect us to do all the work
while here on your island you lazy folk shirk!"
"Yet sowing and reaping aren’t such a great strain,"
said Curr-Mudge as he traced out the mark of a crane
or a dove or perhaps some quite different bird
that speaks out for peace but rarely is heard.
"This armour won’t hammer itself, don’t you know!
We need slaves on the land so our army can go
and fight off our enemies, like these Broga-dan-oan,
and the birds who have fled from the people who own
their feathers and songs and all of their eggs,
their flight and their flesh, right down to their legs!"
"So you don’t have time to build and create
because your army needs-must be bigger than great
so it can suppress just those peaceful folk
who do all the work while your country is broke?"
asked Curr-Mudge with the smile that economist’s make
when pointing out armies never give, only take.
"Well when you say it like that it sounds rather dumb,"
the Gizmornan replied with a grunt that was rum.
"It looks like I needn’t have come here at all,"
whispered Cindy as now the Broga stood tall
and said: "If you wish you can cut us all down
but we will not serve in your fields or your town.
Then you’ll be without helpers, we’ll be without lives,
everyone loses when things are settled with knives."
"You might still be of help," the stranger told Cindy,
"For here’s where the talks get rough-ragged and windy!"
through thickets of ships and the surf’s fearsome roar
they came on Curr-Mudge wrapped with a bandana[*]
sitting peacefully there in quiet sukhasana,
while on either side the disputants arrayed:
the Gizmorn in their armour, the birds all displayed
in plumage so bright while the Broga-dan-oan
pleaded their case for a place of their own:
"We’re peaceable folk who mean nobody harm
but we’ll no longer serve as slaves on your farms!"
"We’ll give you no choice, unless you’d rather die!"
came the gruffly and gruntly Gizmornan reply.
"You cannot expect us to do all the work
while here on your island you lazy folk shirk!"
"Yet sowing and reaping aren’t such a great strain,"
said Curr-Mudge as he traced out the mark of a crane
or a dove or perhaps some quite different bird
that speaks out for peace but rarely is heard.
"This armour won’t hammer itself, don’t you know!
We need slaves on the land so our army can go
and fight off our enemies, like these Broga-dan-oan,
and the birds who have fled from the people who own
their feathers and songs and all of their eggs,
their flight and their flesh, right down to their legs!"
"So you don’t have time to build and create
because your army needs-must be bigger than great
so it can suppress just those peaceful folk
who do all the work while your country is broke?"
asked Curr-Mudge with the smile that economist’s make
when pointing out armies never give, only take.
"Well when you say it like that it sounds rather dumb,"
the Gizmornan replied with a grunt that was rum.
"It looks like I needn’t have come here at all,"
whispered Cindy as now the Broga stood tall
and said: "If you wish you can cut us all down
but we will not serve in your fields or your town.
Then you’ll be without helpers, we’ll be without lives,
everyone loses when things are settled with knives."
"You might still be of help," the stranger told Cindy,
"For here’s where the talks get rough-ragged and windy!"
Love the reference to economists. Yes, I have known one or two, but my favorite is still the one that referred to readings of Keynes as bedtime readings. Heh heh! Also Roti rhymes with dhoti, yummy delicious roti.
Thanks Merlyn! I know Keynes would put me to sleep! Now you’ve got me thinking about rotis: my absolute favourite roti place in the whole universe closed down a good ten years ago and my life hasn’t been the same since!