| entry, befit, gambit, feudal, big beef. |
| iguana, ritual, softly, astray, lavish, feisty, first things first.
Image from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed!
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
9 comments:
Sir Reele came to a castle tall,
A feudal fief for a port of call.
The entry was open, he rode right in,
And encountered a chaotic din.
A damsel had been kidnapped,
And over her bed, a roof-beam snapped!
To rescue a damsel befit Sir Reele,
So for the nearest dragon he did appeal.
His usual gambit on a quest like this
Was find the dragon, and shake his fist.
Then challenge the dragon to a game --
He was good at chess, his poker was lame.
He found its cave without much fuss,
And called for the dragon to open up.
Now Reele is a big and beefy guy,
But the dragon stood three times as high!
"Let's be sure of first things first.
Did you steal a damsel from her berth?"
"Yeah, that was me, I've got her here.
You come to rescue her in your armor gear?"
"She's a feisty gal, you can have her gladly
When I finish the ritual that needs her badly.
The god I worship, the Great Iguana
Wants an offering, so that's what I'm gonna."
"You can come and watch, see she's okay.
We'll be finished soon if nothing goes astray."
The dragon led through his lavish lair,
To an altar room, and the girl tied there.
The dragon chanted, softly at first,
Then from the idol came a loud outburst!
A lizard tongue extruded, and licked the lass,
Then the idol returned to just a stone mass.
The girl had fainted but was else unharmed.
Sir Reele untied her, took her in his arms.
The dragon waved good-bye they returned
To the castle, where a banquet he earned!
Just before the Council of Nicea, an attempt was made on papal authority to persuade a panel of poets to condemn in writing several heretic leaders, each of them a big chief who rejected Christian doctrine.
But poets, being the cantankerous and unregimentable types they are, grew fascinated by the nastiest of these tribal headmen. This resulted in unpublishable MSS with the worst kings versed instead of cursed.
~ OMK
Thanks, Owen, for the two part dragon/damsel epode.
A most accommodating beast, one that seems to be in cahoots with the knight, or perhaps (systemically?) with the class of knights.
I am usually averse to the use of "okay" in period pieces, but your ease with the Chaucerian idiom appeases my ears. I gotta say, my favorite bit is the concluding couplet of poem II, stanza 2.
~ OMK
Well, as if a huge Sunday crossword puzzle isn't enough, we also got a Doonesbury puzzle from Ross Trudeau (relationship to Garry?) on that cartoon this morning. Two Sunday puzzles--give me a break.
But thank goodness the Jumble was an easy delight. Got all six words with just a little thinking, and the solution (okay, a little lame, but who cares) fell easily into place. Great relief to have solved at least something this morning.
And so, first things first, I came here to enjoy Owen's second sweet poem (thank goodness the poor girl was okay after her trauma), and then Ol'Man Keith's non-spoonerism verse.
Now back to those rotten crossword puzzles.
YES!
It is a non-Spoonerism today. Both of them!
Unless... ah--here's the catch:
Un.
Less.
Unless we count "big chief" as a half-Spoon (in June!) because it can be argued that the first word--"big"--is not just an easy way for Keith to not bother with a rhyme, but is in fact a transference of the "B" from "Beef" to replace the removed "B" of the original "Big."
(If you can follow this, then you have entered the big leagues of nit-picking pedantry, a niche reserved for Mensa, Mensa-candidates & wannabes, and of course Jeopardy drop-outs.)
~ OMK
I started with the 6*6 but struggled. I got two, looked and rearranged and got 3 more and finally #3 and #6 fell. Solution obvious.
I then did the four J's off of the blog. #4 came really slow, although it fits with my idea for my next break poetic challenge.
It'll be interesting to see who catches on first. Probably after my first few stanzas. Btw, okay, is okay with me.
WC
Really enjoyed Owen's two-poem narrative; the dragon has a fascinating personality for sure, as well as a good command of conversational language.
The j4 was not a problem, though this was the solution I found rather lame.
The j6, on the other hand, stumped me because I couldn't figure out clue six. Went to the Tribune site and and discovered that our blog had it with two "f"s instead of the correct "f" and "e". Easy oversight. But then the solution became clear; I found this one pretty clever.
STIFEY?
Is this what you mean, Sandy?
I can't find a meaning for it--except as a proper name.
~ OMK
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