‘web of lies’?
It is spun out quickly by those,
Who judge and condemn one for fib,
Or protestation,
But none consider where it was first muttered,
It, a token of curse.
There was a wise magician,
Who had been born to a witch,
Who had been taught by travellers,
Of the old ways of curse.
She had learnt well,
And passed spell and incantation on,
To her son,
Who had made his fortune and fame,
As a stage magician.
His tricks had made him rich.
Not richer than a king but as rich as the merchants,
And tavern owners of the nearby town.
He hid his coin within a large sack,
Which he placed in the basement,
Of the theatre where he performed.
He knew that there was evil in the world,
He knew there were some who would steal,
And so he conjured a curse upon his bag,
To punish those who tried to take it.
One night,
During a performance,
A rogue by the name of Gow Yow,
Snuck into the basement.
He had seen the magician hiding his coins,
And knew the best time to steal them,
Would be when he was busy entertaining.
Gow Yow crept into the dark creaky basement,
Stepped over dank puddles,
Ducked under low beams,
And made his way to the stash of coin.
As he touched the bag,
He noticed a spider,
Dangling down beside him,
With a string of webbing trailing behind it.
The spider spoke,
‘What are you doing?’
Gow Yow stared blankly,
He had never heard a spider talk before.
Again it repeated,
‘What are you doing?’
So Gow Yow,
Worried,
Made something up…
‘I’m a friend of the magician,
He wants me to check his coins are okay.’
No sooner had he spoke,
That a second spider came crawling over the bag,
It too, had a trail of webbing behind him.
The second spider spoke,
‘The magician checked before his show,
Why would he need someone to check again?’
Gow Yow began to panic,
And again he made something up…
‘He heard that there might be someone,
Coming to pinch the coins,
So he wanted to be sure they were safe…’
No sooner had he replied,
That a series of spiders came crawling down the walls,
And each of them, dragged a trail of webbing.
‘But we guard the coins!’
‘The Magician knows that.’
‘So why would he send you?’
‘If he knew we were here already.’
‘And we’ve never met you before.’
Gow Yow started to shake,
He was frightened by the growing number,
Of both spiders and questions,
And then seven more dangled down,
Weaving their web as well,
The questions continued,
And Gow Yow’s tongue did swell,
As pimples appeared,
One after the other,
As he told more untruths,
And more,
And more,
Until suddenly,
He noticed,
He was trapped.
Caught in a giant web,
Weaved by all of the spiders,
And was now completely stuck,
Unable to budge,
Or move.
The first spider returned to him,
And uttered this rhyme,
‘Find yourself trapped,
Much to your surprise,
Spun by what you said,
In a sticky web of lies’
The spiders sat and waited,
Until The Magician returned,
And the thief was arrested,
All thanks to the magical curse.