Friday, February 19, 2010

The Merchant and the Leper 5

Part 5: The Liver of a Leper

The King’s beloved daughter fell ill
Could not be healed by prayer or pill
The Leper whispered in the King’s ear
Let the Merchant heal her or die here

He travelled to distant lands and ‘hoods
Until he met the Spirit of the Woods
Who knew an ancient healing plan –
The liver of a freshly killed man

The Merchant returned to the King’s palace
“I have the cure”, he said with a hiss
“Kipper, pepper, liver of a leper!
"I'm pretty sure that will help her"

Before the western sun went down
The Princess walked through the town
But the Leper was seen no more
It’s said his death was all agony and gore!

The End

12 comments:

  1. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu19 February, 2010

    If i'm right, the lesson is to take notice of all and sundry, big or small, rich or poor, influential or not, etc etc. Because you never know!

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  2. Great piece.

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  3. Aha! Finallly he gets what he deserves, what a pain.

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  4. Nice end to a well told tale. @ Kwame, U r right take notice of all n sundry. The liitle fly U fail to swat might just kill U.

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  5. Important lessons conveyed through beautiful poetry. Kudos

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  6. Quite a gory end but well deserved on the leper I think. Well done Nana.

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  7. @ KMB: That is a lesson all right, but I think the main lesson is evil does not pay!

    @: Anon #1: Thank you very much.

    @ lucci: I agree the Leper deserved no less (and probably more) than he got!

    @ Anon #2: Thank you for reading the entire series. And your comment to KMB is a bit cynical, no? But true. And I hadn't thought of it. If the Merchant hadn't helped the Leper, none of this would have happened. Hmm.

    @ Nanasai: Thanks a lot.

    @ Myne: Yes, the Leper got what was always coming to him. Thanks for your kind words.

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  8. I think the main lesson is "If you see a leper, there is a reason why s/he is a leper". Let your instincts guide you on who to help and how.

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  9. @ NKA: Well, yes. The cleaned-up leper was still a leper in character!

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  10. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu23 February, 2010

    hmmm, evil sometimes pays ooo.All these Russian billionaires, not to talk about the African thieves who parade as politicians!

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  11. Man, you should make a children's book outta this. Verrrry nice.

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