homea poetic rendition of
VIOLA
Day2, Tale 3
The Greeting Game
A king’s son took a liking to
Viola, pretty as the dew.
Each time he passed her she would hear,
Good day to you, Viola dear.
Viola’d smile and then she’d say,
in quite an off-hand, brazen way,
Son of the King, my greetings, too.
It seems that I know more than you.
Her sisters said, She lacks respect.
The way she speaks is not correct!
And since she was recalcitrant
her father sent her to her aunt.
The prince found out where she’d been sent.
He hastened there with one intent:
to kiss Viola on the cheek.
He said, Dear Auntie, let us speak.
You know my name without doubt,
but no one else must find it out.
I ask permission for this boon:
to let me kiss Viola soon.
Your wish is my command, dear sir.
But for a kiss? It’s up to her.
You hide here in the garden shed.
I’ll say that I forgot some thread.
Viola came. The thread was found.
She picked it up and turned around
in time to see him standing there.
She slipped out quickly as a hare.
Viola was sent twice again:
the ruler, and the scissors, then.
Each time the prince had no success.
Viola liked it less and less.
She faced her aunt in rage and tears,
blasphemed her and cut off her ears.
Then back to Daddy’s house she went.
The prince, though spurned, would not relent.
He took to walking by each day.
Each time he passed her he would say,
Good day to you Viola, dear.
And she was still as rude, I fear.
She’d smile and then she’d always say,
in that same flippant, teasing way,
Son of the King, my greetings, too.
It seems that I know more than you.
Her sisters heard her and, aghast,
declared this conduct must not last.
So they agreed without demur
to finally get rid of her.
They wailed, Oh dear, we’ve dropped some thread.
We need it very much, they said.
It landed in the ogre’s yard.
To get it back won’t be too hard,
but one of us will have to go
by rope into his yard below.
You are the lightest of us three.
Viola answered, I agree.
They tied a rope around her waist
and, lowering her below in haste,
they dropped the rope and left her there!
The ogre came out for some air.
Believing that his fetid wind
had caused her to be born, he grinned,
My lovely, let it now be known
you’re mine. I claim you for my own.
He put her in some fairies’ care.
The prince was now in deep despair.
But then he learned, through use of spies,
It’s in an ogre’s house she lies.
He called the ogre to his side.
I’ll die if I cannot reside
one night and day at your abode.
Most surely, prince, the ogre crowed.
That night the prince, in silence, crept
beside Viola while she slept
and pinched her. She cried out, Oh, please!
So many fleas! So many fleas!
Her bed was changed. He pinched once more
and made her cry out as before.
All night she got no sleep and he,
the naughty prince, was filled with glee.
Next day he said, Hello, I’m here.
Good day to you, Viola dear.
And she said, Prince, my greetings, too.
It seems that I know more than you.
When he responded with a tease,
So many fleas! So many fleas!
she knew at once that she’d been caught.
Well, two can play that game, she thought.
The fairies said they’d willingly
take part, and that most speedily.
They asked the ogre for some hose
equipped with bells from heels to toes.
That night they all concealed their shapes
behind the prince’s bedroom drapes.
They waited. When his eyelids drooped
then out into the room they trooped.
They stamped and made such awful din
the prince’s tongue stuck to his chin.
Oh, Mommy, Mommy, help! he screamed.
Perhaps, he thought, I only dreamed.
But then again the noise came. Stamp!
Oh, Mommy, help! His eyes were damp.
Viola left quite pleased to see
that he had been as scared as she.
He saw her quite alone next day
and, as before, he stopped to say,
Good day to you, Viola dear.
And she replied, What’s that I hear?
Son of the King, my greetings too.
It seems that I know more than you.
Oh, yes? he said. So many fleas!
And she said, Mommy, help me please!
The prince replied, All right. It’s true.
You’ve won, and so our game is through.
You do know more. Now for my life
I want you with me as my wife.
The ogre knew he’d been deceived,
that not from him she’d been conceived.
So off they went to see her dad.
He gave his blessing and was glad.
That’s how Viola, once a blight,
wound up as more than just all right.
