The King’s Ballad

Long ago in a faraway land, a king reigned with seven queens.

The fair ladies loved each other and were seldom jealous of the king’s affections;

Until one such day when the court jester played a prank so mean,

It almost threatened to end the king’s reign.

He sowed the seeds of hatred amongst the queens,

They squabbled and gossiped each day till morn.

The poor king could take no more

And so left for the countryside to do farming chores!

Whilst in the country the king thought of a plan

He mused, ‘Let me bring back much needed peace to the land’.

He summoned his minister to his aide

‘Let us make haste’, he said and end this tirade.

So they pondered and sought a solution,

‘A poem, a poem’, said the king, could be the magic potion.

A song to praise each queen and win her over

Added to that a gift of heather and clover!

And so poets were summoned from across the land,

To compose pleasing lyrics for a band;

‘Bring along a ballad, a poem or a song’, they were told

With a promise to be showered with gold two fold.

They came from villages, hamlets and towns,

All eager to make the gold their own,

Alas, none was a success with the queens

Whose bickering by now had reached a crescendo!

His Majesty threw up his arms in vain

He asked ,‘Isn’t there anyone to put an end to this shame?’

There came a knock on the palace door,

Outside stood an old hermit, his clothes all but torn.

The hermit was ushered in as soon as he was seen,

Said he to the king,’ Sire, let me speak to the queens’!

And so he sang them a sweet song

With lyrics telling them where they were wrong.

And so the story ends here, my friends

The queens stopped wrangling and became good wives.

The king reigned for many a good year to come,

And this story became quite a lesson to some!