Competition | 12 February 2011

Lucy Vickery presents this week’s competition

In Competition No. 2683 you were invited to submit a sequel to ‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’. Lear himself left fragments of one, the delightful if tear-jerking ‘The Children of the Owl and the Pussy-Cat’, a tale of premature death and penury. Yours, too, were mostly stories of unhappily-ever-after, though their wit and charm made me smile through the tears. J.C.H. Mounsey, Frank Osen and Sylvia Fairley narrowly missed the cut. The winners get £25 each, and £30 goes to Alan Millard.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat sailed away
From the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And gave not a fig for the poor Piggy-wig
Who was left with a hole through his nose.
Though a shilling was thrilling, the outlook was
chilling
Since noses with holes, Piggy knew,
To winds would succumb and become rather numb
With Piggy-wig-pink turning blue.
But the Bell-Ringer smiled, ‘Poor Piggy, my child,
There’s really no need to feel down.
I’ve spare rings galore in my Ding-a-Ling store
And I’ll sell you a ring for a crown.’
Once more with a snout glowing pink as a rose,
Little Piggy-wig danced on his trottery toes,
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
Alan Millard

Said Pussy, ‘I purr to the tips of my fur
When I look at the ring on my claw.
How lovely to float on our beautiful boat
And drift here and there evermore!’
‘Dear Puss, I agree,’ said the Owl, ‘but you see
One day you may be more than wife.
In that happy event we may come to repent
Having led such a vagabond life.’
‘Oh, bless your wise head!’ the Pussy-cat said.
‘It is time to go home. Let us fly.
With you as my chair. I shall take to the air
And sail like the cloudlets on high.
So up the Owl soared with Puss safe aboard
And was soon just a speck in the sky,
The sky, The sky,
And was soon just a speck in the sky.