Friday, December 28, 2012

CDXXXII - The Dilemma of a Horn



The Age Oddspot — Tuesday December 4, 2012

"North Korea has proved the existence of the unicorn. 
Archaeologists say they found a large rock
carved with the words ‘‘unicorn lair’’ near a temple in Pyongyang. 

The temple was once used by an ancient Korean King, Tongmyong, 
who, according to written texts, kept a stable of them 2300 years ago."

(I’m assuming that the ‘them’ refers to unicorns and not temples 
but you never can tell with The Age.)



The Dilemma of a Horn

The ancient king, Tongmyong,
Kept unicorns, but knew it wrong;
Those most wond’rous beasts
Were kebabs at his feasts:
A delicacy but, alas, not for long.

The unicorn stocks declined
As the King nonchalantly dined.
He caused quite a scandal
Using the horn as a handle,
Compounded by a poor choice of wine.

When last was just fricasseed,
The King was forced to concede
He’d mishandled the flock
And labelled a large rock
In memory of the end of its breed.

---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2012
---


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10 comments:

  1. Ha ha ha - wonderfully witty!

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  2. A horn of not so plenty! Delightful!

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  3. Ouch. I long to believe in dragons and unicorns. At least no-one would munch on a dragon without risking being the munchee.

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  4. Ha, leave it to the North Koreans!

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  5. Laughing !!! Well, I guess I shouldn't. Didn't any Unicorns make it South to preserve their Souls? ;-)

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  6. pretty sad...even then our consumption killed the magic...cute verse but there is a lesson within as well...smiles...

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  7. Unicorn kebabs--that's as good a theory for unicorn extinction as I've heard. Very funny, and the limerick form is well chosen!

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  8. Silly and at the same time an echo of loss that has been too real. Mismanagement and Monuments, or what is a memorial for?
    In ancient Greece, I believe the monuments were built by victors in battle to placate gods who might want to avenge the fallen.

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  9. nice tone here. Fun look at the myth. Quite the ending for such a fantastic beast, creatively dreamt.

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