A chaste & lovely maiden
Loved a roughhewn sort of man
It was a strange attraction
The folk could never understand
But she lived in a great tower
In a foreign land.

The lad traversed the valleys
The tangled briars low
Great and craggy mountains
Replete with ice and snow
He knew that he must find her
But did not know where to go.

He questioned people far & wide
Of how to find the lass
Finally an old woman
Told him true at last
But guardians of gargoyles
Would let no one pass!

They would ask a riddle
That he would have to tell
What was found in plenty
At the bottom of a well
If he couldn't answer
They'd take him straight to hell!

The rough young man, he pondered
Yes, he was perplexed
He had no ready answer
Didn't know what to do next
He did not know the answer
And he was so sore vexed!

But a gentle voice he told him
Just like a tender kiss
What resides within a well
Is always a great wish.

So the lad, he faced his foe
So bold in his youth
His answer confounded them
Because it was the TRUTH.

He found the modest maiden
Straight away they wed
They had been kept apart
But had higher love instead!

The moral of this fable
Is the greatest wish in you
Should NOT BE GIVEN UP ON...

... FOR THEY MAY COME TRUE.

Catherine Jarvis
October 23, 2020