The Glugs of Gosh (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...Said the Mayor of Quog: "This has long been foretold In a prophecy penned by the Seer of old. We must search, if we'd banish the curse of our time, For a mender of pots who's a maker of rhyme. 'Tis to him we must look when our luck goes amiss. But, Oh, where in all Gosh is a Glug such as this?" O'er the prophecy pored Then the Mayor and Council and Charity Board O'er the archival prophecy zealously pored, With a pursing of lips and a shaking of heads, With a searching and prying for possible threads That would lead to discover this versatile Glug Who modelled a rhyme while he mended a mug. With a pursing of lips and a shaking of heads, They gave up the task and went home to their beds, Where each lay awake while he tortured his brain For a key to the riddle, but ever in vain . . . Then, lo, at the Mayor's front door in the morn A tinker called out, and a Movement was born. "Kettles and pans Kettles and pans Oh, the stars are the gods'; but the earth, it is man's. But a fool is the man who has wants without end, While the tinker's content with a kettle to mend. For a tinker owns naught but the earth, which is man's. Then, bring out your kettles Ho, kettles and pans " From the mayoral bed with unmayoral cries The magistrate sprang ere he'd opened his eyes. "Hold him " he yelled, as he bounced on the floor. "Oh, who is this tinker that rhymes at my door? Go get me the name and the title of him 1" They answered. "Be calm, sir. 'Tis no one but Sym. 'Tis Sym, the mad tinker, the son of old Joi, Who ran from his home when a bit of a boy. He went for a tramp, tho' 'tis common belief, When folk were not looking he went for a thief; Then went for a tinker, and rhymes as he goes. Some say he's crazy, but nobody knows." 'Twas thus it began, the exalting of Sym, And the mad Gluggish struggle that raged around him. For the good Mayor seized him, and clothed him in silk, And fed him on pumpkins and pasteurised milk, And praised him in public, and coupled his...