I was sitting in my kitchen
Sorting through a pile of mail
When a fairy came from nowhere
Shouting, “Help me find my tail!”
“What does it look like?” I inquired
She answered, “Let me think…
It’s a little like a pig’s tail
But less curly, and more pink.”
“Wait here,” I said. “I guarantee
I’ll find your tail by noon.”
She said, “Oh thank you, thank you!
I expect to see you soon!”
I took off on my fastest horse
Across the sunlit field
I carried my binoculars
And kept my eyeballs peeled
I passed a group of seven dwarves
Who slept in seven beds
I asked them if they’d seen the tail
They only shook their heads
I saw a pig in a house of sticks
And poked my head on in
I asked him if he’d seen the tail
He said, “Not by my chinny chin chin!”
I passed a marketplace and saw
A boy sell his cow for a bean
I looked around the booths and stands
But the tail could not be seen
I passed a giant tower that kept
A longhaired, locked-up maiden
I would’ve stopped, but knew
I shouldn’t keep the fairy waitin’
“Have you seen a tail?” I asked three mice
“It’s pink and hard to find.”
The mice said, “We need tails ourselves…
And anyway, we’re blind.”
I saw a gnome spin straw to gold
For some unhappy dame
I asked if he had seen the tail
He answered, “Guess my name!”
By then, the journey for the tail
Began to make me furious
I asked a girl named Alice
But she only said, “How curious.”
So I went home, deciding
I should end my search at last
When suddenly I spotted it!
Just sitting in the grass!
I brought it back and said:
“Look what was lying on the ground!”
The fairy cried, “Oh thank you sir!
I’m so glad that it’s found!
You are a hero, and you have
My gratitude eternal!
From now on, for safekeeping
I will keep it in this journal.”
Soon after, other fairies
Kept their tails in journals too
They started up a library
That quickly grew and grew
So now, to find a fairy tail
You barely have to look
Just ask a good librarian…
And open up a book.
