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Written in 1997, I’m sure this is a true historical event taught in schools across the country, and if not it should be! Listen with headphones.
The King In His Maze
The King was strolling in his maze,
It’s how he likes to spend his days,
The Cardinal walking slightly behind,
With something heavy on his mind.
“Sire far be it for me to tell,
But the Queen has loved an infidel,
‘T would be best if word remained sound,
For you know how gossip abounds”
The King was strolling in his maze,
Enjoying the flowers beneath his gaze,
But this news most irksome
Spoiled his mood,
He thought the Cardinal tactless and rude,
“Throw her in the tower!” he said,
“And in the morning cut off her head,
Then find for me,
A new wife to wed!
If the King decreed it
Better that you heed it
Let the dreadful deed be done!”
The King was strolling in his maze,
Counting out the magpies and jays,
Said the Cardinal
“Sire don’t think me a dolt,
But the peasants have risen up in revolt,
This morning when the Queen met her death
She uttered with her very last breath
“How I wish the King to be dead!”
(The basket neatly caught her head),
Now to the peasants she was by far,
Of the two of you the most popular,
As she spake up went the hurrah,
“If the Queen decreed it,
Better had we heed it,
Let the dreadful deed be done!””
The King was strolling in his maze,
While all around the palace ablaze,
The Cardinal and the courtiers adjourned,
“Better to leave than get yourself burned!”
The King was strolling in his maze,
Amid the labyrinthine ways,
In all his years he’d gradually learned,
The way the maze twisted and turned,
The peasants tried to look for the King,
They reached the maze and entered within,
But ‘ere long they found to their cost,
The maze so convoluted,
Caused the phrase now mooted,
“We are well and truly lost!”
Image by CJW biro and coloured pencils on printer paper
- Genre
- Folk & Singer-Songwriter