JEFFREY AND PAULOOSE THE GHOST
JEFFREY AND PAULOOSE THE GHOST


One day in a Snake Island
Occupied by snakes and large anacondas
Lived on top of an old ancient banyan tree
In a great Indian Jungle
A ghost spirit named Pauloose
He was grey and white all over his wrecked body
And looked as if he had a huge potbelly
That tinkled when he laughed shrill and madly
High atop the sprawling branches of the old Banyan tree
He looked to see who passed by the haunting valley
And soon caught sight of a buckling stripling youth
Named Jeffrey
He saw that the young lad was brazen and bold
And could carry him on his shoulders
When he wished to cross the stream
From atop the jungle bridge
And below where it gleamed
The star crossed paths with the young and bold lad
On his way to find a princess he could marry
And be rich and live like a future King of a fairy story
As soon as he passed beneath the old Banyan Tree
He heard a strange cry and thought it was an owl
Or a kookaburra on the tree
But when he raised his pate from his shoulder
To see he was astonished and filled with shudders and creeps
That tingled through his gutsy spine and bone marrow
It was an abominable grey-and-white specter of horror
That glistened like a beast
He grinned and bared his mouth so big a black hollow cavity
Then promised to the young and bold man
Saying ghost Pauloose "If you help me cross the river
From up the bridge, you see
I will grant you potluck from pot skulls and pot skittles
Of the graveyard of skull drudgery sand and skull bones
That once was where my family of skeletons lay their
Weary bodies to sleep"
The youth thought not much about the strange plea
Yet the bargain was better than he thought it would
Turn out to be
Now he thought to himself
It would be pretty easy to fetch him a fair princess
Bride to be future King soon and she his beloved faery Queen
But the task he thought would be simple
As easy peasy as a pea
Would startle him like a hornet
Trapped inside a roaring lion's belly
As soon as the ghost
Who seemed feather weight sat upon his square shoulders
Locks of silver and grey falling like kiss curls
Covered his eyes and body
He struggled and staggered under the heavyweight
Of his round and immense pot belly
"O' hardly potluck!" sighed Jeffrey to himself
The poor young bold lad
Now discouraged if ever he would have his way
Whether his wishes would turn true with such a fearsome
Beast of burden upon his shoulders
Seemed so cumbersome and difficult
In the first place to make a step into the
Bridge over troubled waters below
But looking at the brighter side
Of the coin, he tossed before he
Took a turn for better or worse
He shinned up and bore with mettlesome pluck
What he thought he should overcome with a bear and grin
Without showing sorrow or woe
Then girding up his loins
With the heavy weight of the ghost Pauloose
He wiped the sweat pouring down his furrow and brows
And lifted the burden of more than a hundred and fifty pounds
As if he could beat the challenge
By now he almost crossed the bridge over troubled waters
And asked the ghost Pauloose
To kindly dismount and unhinge the loathsome barrier
From his bent spine
However hard and however good
He tried the horrid ghost would just
Not come off his poor back
Ghost Pauloose showed no mercy and continued
To sit straddling behind
Stuck on his body like a mouse to a block of blue moon cheese!
Then walked for several miles youthful Jeffrey
Now older than his age, he shed light on truth full of folly
So old and bent over the weight he carried the
Stubborn ghost Pauloose
This he did in the hot sun
And in the breezeless night without a star in the sky
Also on windy rainy days as he progressed far from the valley
Till he came to a little hut
In the deep woods
And saw a pretty maiden count
Something that looked like little flowers
White from red and blue from purple
You couldn't really tell
Even shoes from socks and toes from thumbs
Noses from lips and teeth from ears even tails and lips
For they all looked so different
In sizes, colour, and shapes each from another one
Terrifying and strange!
I mean would they be flowers, lips, fingers, or toes
Shoes, petals, thumbs, noses, eyes or teeth and tails
Of someone maybe a witch or a bat
A turtle, crow, or a cat
A lion, a werewolf, a dog, a tiger or a mouse
He could hardly guess why she did what she did
Counting them one by one to rearrange her fingers
Those scary bits from inside the many pockets of her frock
And apron strings
The little maiden looked up so pretty a face
That couldn't be unnoticed
He fell for her instantly and blindly
'Twas indeed Love at first sight!
But she popped up a question
Before he could ask her what the reason
Made her slave to count such gory bits of horror stories
So very carefully and thoughtfully
As if it were to him plain as a hideous crime
Her bright eyes sharpened
With a gleam that only shook him like a puppet on a string
And grimly he listened
For it was all gory as the ghost that settled
On his aching spine
She politely asked the young and bold Jeffrey as
If he were a Magician Maverick
"Could you please tell me the names?
Of these colourful scary things
I have to separate each from a different pocket
Piece by piece, bit by bit, one by one
I can hardly remember what the witch
Bade me to count
Only told to separate red and white
Purple and blue
If you do help me I can stir up the ladle
And serve you hot potato mash
And beef stew from the pot on the stove"
Jeffrey was tired, hungry, and weary
And took up the challenge once again
He looked at all the eerie things
And they at him
And really couldn't try if he even wished
Or feel as what the things imagined
He thought them to be made out of
Maybe human's grievous sins!
They jumped and leaped from her fingers
As she counted
Letting not moss slip between his toes
He quickly asked the specter wraith Pauloose
To help him out and solve the jinx of the riddle
Pauloose looked at the flying bits
Of eeriness and horrorsome pieces
Like ears, toes, fingers, lips, thumbs, shoes
Noses, petals, toes, eyes, teeth and tails
And began to laugh giddy-headed
"Why" said he
They are my little ghost beads that I
Lost the other day when you
Slept before you reached the heart
Of the deep woods of the witches' hut
And whispered in his ear lowly..... "Japongelies"
The young and bold youth Jeffrey
Thought for a while
"What a silly name"
But yet said the absurd word before the pretty maid
"Japongelies"
Lo! All the ghostly eerie things
Collected in their proper colours
They were stray ghosts' bits, pieces, and parts
Belonging to all different colors
Red, violet, purple, and blue
Then the fair maiden brought out a bowl
For the hungry and weary traveller
With a ghost sitting on his bent spine
>And laid out a scrumptious dinner for the two
Only she saw the invisible ghost
Perched on his hunch-back shoulders
And no other till now determined
Why was he bent like an old man
Till the butterflies flew from inside their empty bellies
While even the ghost had his hands
Full of beef stew and mashed potatoes
Now he went to sleep just outside the hut
Where the pretty maid layout
For him, a mat and pillow to rest upon
With the silvery and grey kiss curls
Of the ghost named Pauloose
Hanging from his head, face and body
The next early morn'
Once again carrying the heavy burden
Of the horrid beast of misery
He bade the pretty maid goodbye
And promised her she would be soon free again
From the grasp of the wicked witch
All because he guessed the ghost's name
"Japonjelies" which was truly correct
And nobody knew what happened after
He turned his back with the heavy load
Of the ghost Pauloose behind him
The poor young and bold youth
Now sauntered ahead and reached
The city where all people
Joyous and happy rejoiced
Circled around a king sitting in a palanquin
Carrying him as light compared to the
Burden of young and bold Jeffrey
The King it seems was on his way to his castle
To meet the grooms to find
The best suited for his daughter the princess to marry
The young and bold youth was happy for a moment
So frabjous! So ecstatic!
But so short-lived was his spurt of joy invented
Soon he remembered the cumbersome weight he carried
The silver and grey kiss curls that fell on his face
Forehead and body
And though it was impossible to hide his hunchback
As old as a canary
With a hump of a camel
Before the mighty king
And win the hand of his beautiful daughter
Who would be repelled by his strange fate of misery
Bearing an invisible ghost named Pauloose on his bent back
Full of tragedy he swore such a feat as this unravel
Before his very eyes! An eyesore! Sight for sore eyes
Abandoned the thoughts he had so wished dearly
And deeply in the first place to accomplish
Now seemed so far and teary
But the horrid ghost laughed once again
At so tear-jerking a tale
Like a wise old owlet and a jocund Kookaburra
And told the young and bold traveller
"Do not fear and enter the portcullis
Of the foreboding castle by wading through the moat
It has a snake pit
And if you manage to walk through it
I shall not be a burden on your back
And shall go back to where I belong
The solid branch of the old Banyan tree to hang"
The young bold boy was terrified
To have to walk through cobras and anacondas
He should never last he surmised
To reach inside the great palace Woe Begone! Alas!
Yet stoutly and boldly as was he
Rough-hewn, bold and tough
Took up the challenge once more bravely
He closed his eyes
"Do or Die" he mumbled as he walked past
The snake pit of cobras, pythons, and anacondas
That jeered, hissed, leered, and hypnotised
Now from atop the fortress of the magnificent castle
Stood the pretty princess
Who saw the bold and young youth hobbling past down below
With the weight of the ghost on his hunchback body
Surprised and marvelled as he dared and never let go
Goggled at his bravery! In total disbelief.....
Awestruck with wonder and astonishment
She turned her hands out in the air
And flung out a ghost necklace bare
Full of the lips, tails, fingers, toes, shoes, flowers, petals
Thumbs, eyes, noses, ears and teeth
And as it fell deep down below
Right inside the poison snake pit
The sixty-six snakes turned
To "Japonjelies"
Another sixty-seven ghosts indeed
And the one that was added
Was the ghost Pauloose to its long tail, hiss, and rattle
Lo! Behold! The snakes that turned into nothingness
Disappeared in a poof and puff as if it was all a bad dream
Into red, blue, purple, and white smoke and dust
The young and bold lad
Was freed at last from all his beast of burdens
And entered the gates of the great castle happily
The king upon seeing so fair a lad
Asked him if he wished to see the pretty princess
Who would choose if he were to be her prince
And future King of the land of happiness
The lad danced and his feet touched above the grounds
Yet stood solemn and serious as a Prince should
Before a young Princess
Now the princess strode into the royal hall
Wearing a masque in a masquerade procession beeline
Like one of the hundred maids in waiting
Dressed in simple garbs just like all of them
So he couldn't tell the difference
And she told the young and bold youth
To find the correct maiden from all the rest
He would marry
The youth named Jeffrey was flabbergasted
Befuddled by her strange query but yet unshaken
Stood firm on his ground
And did as she told him
Till all of the hundred maidens stood afore
Him bearing to show their hidden pretty faces from their scarves
He saw one by one tooth and tail
Lips, toes, feet, flowers that decked their gold and brown
Tresses, eyes, thumbs, shoes, fingers, noses, ears and teeth
And was reminded of the "Japonjelies"
Then however one who stood out from all the rest
Was the humble pretty maiden of the witch's cottage
Without further ado, he pointed to the
Beautiful maid, he had met on one of his
Cumbrous journey with the beast of burden
All the rest of the hundred maidens as soon as he pointed
His finger turned to old Beldams
Indeed witches of the ghost's necklace
"Japonjelies"
And the one who he chose was in fact
The blessed Princess
Who he married
The young and bold youth Jeffrey
Said goodbye to all the "Japonjelies"
And with his bride on horseback
He sauntered through the valleys
And over the strange bridge underwaters
He traversed to the spot of the old Banyan Tree
And soon appeared the hideous ghost
Laughing like a wise owlet and a jocund Kookaburra bird
Said the young and bold Prince Jeffrey
To Pauloose the ghost of the old Banyan Tree
"Thank you Ghost Pauloose
You have chosen for me the right bride
After the burden of your ghost
Made me cross over troubled waters
A bridge over the river
To a great castle through a moat over the venomous snake pit
That I waded with courage and dare
To lead me to my Princess of dreams of the land of Happiness
And all her hundred maids in waiting
Your priceless ghost necklace Japonjelie witches
Goes to show how courage
Shows us the path to success
And accepting the fearful challenge by being bold and fearless
To accomplish what we fear to dare!
This was the end of the awesome adventures
Of Jeffrey and the ghost Pauloose
Till you decide one day
To carry your beasts of burden
On the bridge over troubled waters
And through the wind of change
With silver and grey kiss curls falling
Overhead face and bodies
Win hands down
The plucky prince or mettlesome princess
Of your dreams one day
Of the great castle of Happiness Valley!