THERE'S a forest thro' which we went to-day, Waving and green and high,With feathery tassels tall and gay Nodding against the sky;The place of all others for fairy tales, And plays of the years gone by.
And this is the game we children played— I was an Ogre grim,Alice the Princess that fell asleep Down in the forest dim,And the Prince who wakened her with a kiss When he found her—that was Jim.
The Prince came riding so proud and bold On a prancing corn-stalk steed,And many a blade was thrust at him, But little did Jimmy heed;And long vines plucked him to hold him back From doing that daring deed.
The Ogre leaped from its hiding-place, With a menace fierce and grim,And a big green pumpkin kept the door, And scowled and leered at him;But he bravely charged and routed his foes With his trusty "Cherry-Limb."
The corn-blades dropped on their bended joints, But vainly for mercy pled,The pumpkin yielded, the Ogre turned With a horrible shriek and fled,The Princess was duly kissed, and so Sweet Alice and Jim were wed.
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