Pipkin & the Lime


Once upon a time

There was a little lime

And he lived in the middle of the wood.

He had a little house

Built by a little mouse,

And the little mouses' name was Pipkin.

Now Pipkin and the lime

Had a friendship quite sublime

Each was the others' best friend.

But things were looking bad

When the lime met Pipkin's dad

One day whilst they were walking in the wood.

Pips Dad was mighty cross

And considered it a loss

That his son was oh so pally with a fruit.

He told him not to stray,

That he should stay away

From the citrus-scented thick skinned
little chap.

Poor lime was very sad

And resented Pips old Dad

He didn’t understand his point of view.

And Pip was quite morose

That his Dad found lime so gross

So did all he could to argue the defence.

At home in the meantime

The family of the lime

Told him to keep away from little mice.

Lime did his very best

But became quite depressed

As his family thought Pip not very nice.

All turned out very well

When a naughty pixie's spell

Misfired one bright moonlit summers eve.

The pixie he had tried

To sneak away and hide

He wanted them to hate

Pipkin's little mate

And drive him from his cottage in the wood.

But he didn't realise

(He had such clouded eyes)

To do such bad would bring him back
no good.

In his haste to do some wrong

He sang a different song

To the one he originally had planned.

Poor pixie's little muddle

Sent him flying into a puddle

Where he found his form was sorely changed.

His arms and legs had shrunk

His body and his trunk

And he had a stumpy tail on the end.

His skin was green and bumpy

His head felt kind of lumpy

He was a toad! Alas! Alack-a-day!

He felt so much dismay

No longer would he play

His wooden flute so wildly in the wood.

To change back he tried

and tried so hard, he cried

"I'm an amphibian, what shall I do?"

Summoning all his power

He leaned against a flower

And tried a final spell to do the trick.

He spoke a magic word

softly, hardly heard

To try to get the families together.

The families were amazed

They could not but feel dazed

To suddenly be transported in this vein.

But when they saw pixie's plight

They realised that they might

Assist the naughty pixie in his woe.

Now the Pips could cast a spell

And the Limes could do as well

But neither was effective as it was

They realised that they

Should put their differences away

For poor pixie was indeed in dire straits.

The families all joined hands

And formed two linking bands

Surrounding little pixie very tight.

Then chanted all as one,

"Let the mischief be undone"

A glow rose in the circle, shining blue.

Little pixie had a fright

Being shown up in this light

But he stood firm to face the consequences.

And he felt very strange

And he began to change

Back to his normal shape and everything.

Pipkins Dad said to Lime

"We needed you at this time

As you needed us, so no more will we fight.

You can be Pipkin's friend

Your friendship you may mend

And won't you come tonight to have
some supper?"

In the wooded glen that night

To Lime and Pipkin's true delight

They all sat together as good friends.

The moral here is clear

Do not panic, do not fear

Our differences unite us at the end.

(And as for the pixie - well,
that's another tale)

©The Poetic Priestess 2001