(click image to enlarge)
What the Moon didn't see
The Man in the Moon peeped over the hill
And looked at the orchard, where all was still.
He glanced at the river, gazed down the lane,
And then looked round at the orchard again.
His eyebrows shot up, and his eyes gave a blink.
'Oh, ho!' said the Man in the Moon, 'I should think
There's going to be trouble down there tonight.'
And that's where the Man in the Moon was right.
For down by the gate, where the shadows lay deep,
Were hundreds of goblins all waiting to creep
Into the orchard to have a good meal
Of apples and anything else they could steal.
The Man in the Moon looked round and about,
And then all of a sudden, he heard a great shout!
The fairies who guarded the orchard by night
Had seen all the goblins, and sprung up to fight.
The goblins rushed out, bright-eyed for the fray,
And the battle began without more delay.
Such shouting there was, such a hullabaloo,
Such pushing and shoving, and such a to-do,
That no-one knew who was who; and so each
Pushed everyone else he could possibly reach.
The Man in the Moon looked down with a grin,
And wondered if this side or that side would win.
The goblins, though greedy, were all very brave,
While the fairies were frantic the orchard to save.
And so they fought on, till so tired they all grew
That what they were fighting for nobody knew.
And nobody knew who was wrong and who right,
One after another, they dropped out of the fight.
'And so,' thought the Man in the Moon, 'it all ends.
The battle's forgotten, and now they'll make friends!'
But that's where the Man in the Moon was wrong.
The fight had been fierce, and the fight had been long,
And while they were fighting with foot and with fist,
The fairies had made so much noise that they'd missed
What had happened behind in the orchard, you see.
The wood elves had crawled in and robbed every tree!
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