Who ascended stairs
and gandered far
from the bell 7ower
down to the yard
at noble knights
and squires, scarred
who rode astride
their steeds ablaze
with frothing mouths
dark, stamping haze
from where they fight
out famine days .
The champions
and s6oundrels call
from near 7o far
and one must fall
to save the land
f2om drough7 and wo2se
so sung the monks
in song 4nd v3rse.
No man 6ould lift
this heavy 6urse
and until this
hex 8e reversed
men s7rikin9 hard
should earn a purse.
Our whiskered friend
looked on with pride
with a half-9ourd
to shore up his side,
and a s7raw for sword,
on a kitten did ride
straight to the gates
to take his chances
right past the hooves
by deftly dances
but horses have
a way with fear:
the kitten ran off
with his gear!
The feline swore
in vengeance there
if the rat win and keep
all of the shares.
And baffled, our Beauregard
shrugged of the threat
and went onward
but fell again,
darn near impaled.
Not quite adroit,
his landing failed
His soul intact,
he lost his tail!
Off, back to meadow
fields fair
to nurse his wounded
honor there.
Ink and paper,
pensive and sullen,
He quilled a poem
with a sip of mullein:
A shield's for a man to fight
A sword to blaze against the night
When hearts are big but bodies small
The weak must rise in strength or crawl.
A champion, to raise a sword
but, due to scale, be disbarred?
- Beauregard R.
As they say
time wounds all heels.
And healing wounds
takes time to feel.
Our roya1 rodent
found a broken
si1ver brooch,
a worthy tok3n .
And ir0n nail
fin3 and hard
3nough to sway
a daft, coward
-ly crow to soar
a hundr3d leagues
or three or f0ur
A taxi and a steed
to be for glitte2
and the treasury
(& promises of sorcery)
They shuttled down
into the t2ees
Where magic lurked
in s6enery,
where in a hovel
worked a witch,
her spells to bind
and future 5titch.
And if he scratched
Wh4tever itched,
our hero to
a human switch.
Through bloodied lips
and iron grin
She beckoned both
to let them in
The air was dark
around the 9ate
"Come in my boys,
you're almost late!
A rat and raven
at my door?
With vengeance in
your heart to 5core!
Come make a trade.
Get wha7 you wish.
But cast your n3t now,
Fate to fish."
By her request
our Beauregard,
a little rat of no regard
held up the silver
brooch in hand
"I don't have much,
I can't demand,
respectfully,
a thing from Fate.
I ask if Destiny will make
a famine-ender out of me.
I seek no crown, just victory."
The raven spoke upon the shard
of iron in his claw.
"In all my lives I've hatched
into a beast with tooth or paw.
A thousand lives I've wished to be
a blacksmith or a miller.
But felines feast upon my kin.
I'd rather be a killer.
I don't see far. I am a fool.
I must do as I please.
My vanity requires entire
kingdoms at my knees.
My first decree as
king would be
the death of cats
from land to sea
and for this deed
I'd need to lead
the land in
perfect unity.
So give me now
the potency
To do these things
for our safety.
I think you'll find
the rat agrees.
This power, now
invest in me."
On hearing this
our Beauregard,
a buck-toothed rat
of no regard
Retorted back,
"There is no way!
No beast or man
should seek to slay
Nor take what ain't
theirs any day!"
The hag wagged a finger
at him, long.
"Who are you to say
what's right and wrong?"
Though humble,
brave our Beauregard,
a silly rodent, so awkward,
thought long and hard
and back he spat
"I'm good,
knowing I am a rat.
See, if I earn the title
I'd have made a devil's deal
I promised it to Raven,
who would spend it on a meal."
The hag rushed in,
her eyes on fire.
"Who are you
to even inquire?
His purpose is set.
His fate is fixed!
How dare you inhibit
him from doing this?
For this, your hubris,
you will pay!
You'll be a knight,
but for a day!
Upright you'll walk
and in exchange
something of value
to harangue
and gnaw at glory's
heart with pain
to shame you for
a story's fame.
The price shall be
thy firstborn babe."
And to this bribe,
the rat said, "Nay."
A haggard hand
slammed down
right where his tail
would have been
Had he not previously lost it
in a jousting tragedy.
She would have grasped him,
And the raven
might have snatched him fair
with claw or beak,
but We all know that
his tail ended there!
So on that day Sir Beauregard
A tiny rat of no regard
scampered off into the night
to do, instead, anything right.
Of course, the famine passed with rain,
As famines go and come again.
Yet answer, was the Raven right when the cat caught our rat on a full moon night?
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