Monday, August 29, 2005

"After Ever Happily"

Like the title suggests this isn't your ordinary Fairy Tale. See if you can figure out the story correctly. Were they laughing at the squashed chamberlain or the woodcutters 'ands? Who splashed in the puddles? The King, Queen, and Chamberlain?


"After Ever Happily"
or The Princess and the Woodcutter


And they both lived happily ever after...
The wedding was held in the palace. Laughter
rang to the roof as a loosened rafter
Crashed down and squashed the chamberlain flat--
And how the wedding guests laughed at that!
"You with your horny indelicate hands,
Who drop your haitches and call them 'ands,
Who cannot afford to buy her a dress,
How dare you presume to pinch our princess--
Miserable woodcutter, uncombed, unwashed!"
Were the chamberlains last words (before he was squashed).
"Take her", said the Queen, who had a soft spot
For wood cutters. "He's strong and he's handsome. Why not?"
"What rot", said the King, but he dare not object;
The Queen wore the trousers -- that's as you'd expect.
Said the chamberlain, usually meek and inscrutable,
"A princess and a woodcutter? The match is unsuitable."
Her dog barked its welcome again and again,
As they splashed to the palace through puddles of rain.
And the princess sighed, "Till the end of my life!"
"Darling", said the woodcutter, "Will you be my wife?"
He knew all his days he could love no other
So he nursed her to health with some help from his mother,
And lifted her horribly hurt, from her tumble.
A woodcutter, watching saw the horse stumble.
As she rode through the woods, a princess in her prime
On a dapple-grey horse...Now, to finish my rhyme,
I'll start it properly: Once upon a time--

by Ian Serraillier
From the Oxford Book Of Story Poems

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I have it, but I'll leave it for others to enjoy. I have really enjoyed what I have found on your blog so far. I also am a student at SBTS in the Billy Graham School. I have been called into foreign missions. I am hoping to serve in the refugee camps of Germany or other Central European states. Your story sounds awesome and I hope I get to read some more about it or maybe even talk to you about it if I run into you on campus. Keep up the blogging.

Anonymous said...

Hallo, liebe Christine. Sie sind in Celle geboren? Wieso sind Sie nach SBTS gekommen? Wie schoen!

Wohnte in Rinteln als ich Student war: die ist eine Kleinstadt die auf der Weser liegt, ung. 60 km sudwestlich von Hannover. Kennen Sie sie?

Die Laura ist meine Toechter: bin auf sie sehr stolz.

Ihr Blog ist gut! Machen Sie bitte weiter!

ckjolly said...

Hallo, Lauras Vater! Sie hat von Ihnen shon gesprochen! Nein, ich war nicht in Celle geboren, sondern in den USA. Meine Eltern waren in den US Army. Jetzt pflanzen sie Englishe/Internationalische Gemeinde in der gegend von Hannover. Wir haben eine neue Gemeinde in Goettingen. Bitte betten Sie fuer das Arbeit Gottes da in Deutschland. Sie koennen ihr Website besuchen. Clicken Sie auf den Hannover International Bible Church link. Tchuss ... bis spaeter!

Jeff said...

Hi! Thank You for posting Serraillier's Backwords Fairytale, I've been looking for it since first hearing it in a storytelling class back in the 1980's. BTW, you have a gentle, interesting style of writing; your blog is quite enjoyable. Peace, Jeff :) PS: I'm a fan of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, too!

ckjolly said...

lol! *I* performed it in a storytelling class. You should have SEEN my classmates faces.

"huh? ... wait ... weird ..."