VERSES.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17586, 15 December 1928, Page 16 (Supplement)

VERSES.

A FISHING TRAGEDY.

(By Dorothy Young, Victoria.)

King Smile-on-all, of Laughing Town, Loved best a long day's Ashing. One day he took his tackle down To try his luck In the Wishing.

The River Wishing rippled on Between its banks of green; The happy King did cast his line And sit with happy mien.

Then up there came from the riverbed A horrid-looking fish.

Quoth he, "That Is a nice plump king— Methinks a tasty dish!" And so he pulled the poor King in And made him into mince; And that is why here ends my tale— He's not been heard of since 1 BRUSHY GLEN. Oft have I heard that Brushy Glen Was haunted by the faery men, With hooks for hands and clammy toes— For everywhere a fatry goes You cannot hear his soft "pit-pat"— No one could hear a step like that. Each eye is like a tennis ball — They haven't got a nose at all. They've chins that nearly touch the ground, Which wiggle, waggle, round and

round. Their hair's like stalks of autumn

grass— Through Brushy Glen the faeries passl They cry that all who stop to look Or pass the bank of Brushy Brook Will turn into a frog, or snail, Or grow a snout, or grow a tail. Through Brushy Glen the wild wind blows, And everywhere a faery goes Pie calls unto the wind "I-hoo I" He calls unto the reeds "I-whool" And then the wind and reeds repeat What they have seen the faeries eat— The eyes of cows, or dogs, of cats, The tails of bulls, of mice, or fats. And so beware, and keep away From Brushy Glen at end of day, For then it is that Brushy Glen Is haunted by the faery men I