THE LEGEND OF EVIL
99
‘Set them to work in the cornland
‘With ploughs and sickles and flails,
‘Put them in mud-walled prisons
‘And—cut off their beautiful tails!
‘With ploughs and sickles and flails,
‘Put them in mud-walled prisons
‘And—cut off their beautiful tails!
‘Now, we can watch our fathers,
‘Sullen and bowed and old,
‘Stooping over the millet,
‘Sharing the silly mould.
‘Sullen and bowed and old,
‘Stooping over the millet,
‘Sharing the silly mould.
‘Driving a foolish furrow,
‘Mending a muddy yoke,
‘Sleeping in mud-walled prisons,
‘Steeping their food in smoke.
‘Mending a muddy yoke,
‘Sleeping in mud-walled prisons,
‘Steeping their food in smoke.
‘We may not speak to our fathers,
‘For if the farmers knew
‘They would come up to the forest
‘And set us to labour too.’
‘For if the farmers knew
‘They would come up to the forest
‘And set us to labour too.’
This is the horrible story
Told as the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk together
Holding each other’s tails.
Told as the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk together
Holding each other’s tails.
