The Gold Diggers
“Uncle Billy, tell us a far-fetched story please”
“I’ve told you before boys, my stories are not far-fetched, they are just fetched from afar!”
“What is your favourite story Uncle?”
“Ah! Let me see now! Aye, that must have been the time when I set sail with eight companions to search for the fabled Island of Gold,” replied Uncle Billy with a grin on his face and a glint in his eyes.
“Did you find gold? Did it make you rich?” we asked excitedly.
“The answer to your first question is ‘yes!’, but the answer to the second is ‘no!’”, he replied mysteriously.
“What happened? Tell us, do!”
“Well, ‘tis a long sad tale and those of us who survived to tell it made up a song about it.”
Picking up his guitar, Uncle Billy began to strum a strong, driving, rhythmical accompaniment and then in his deep baritone voice, he sang the song which he called:
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| From Drop Box |
Out of the night, came forth the morn,
Birds sang in chorus to welcome the dawn.
Birds sang in chorus to welcome the dawn,
As we set sail on adventure borne.
White waves crashing, red was the sky.
Sails set, wind-blown, reaching on high.
Sails set, wind-blown, reaching on high,
As out of the harbour, our ship sailed by.
Onward we sailed till we came to a land,
Hidden for years, as we understand.
Hidden for years, as we understand.
And on it we landed, our gallant band.
Nine of us came to this promised land.
Red gold, white gold we held in our hand.
Red gold, white gold we held in our hand,
But this unleashed wrath upon our sorry band.
A guardian came forth, a serpent of fear,
Black as the night, death in its leer.
Black as the night, death in its leer,
Attacking our band because we were here.
Ruby red eyes stared out of its head.
A flash of light and three men lay dead.
A flash of light and three men lay dead,
As into the forest, the rest of us fled.
Gathering gold, we now did at night.
Hearts filled with fear, we avoided the light.
Hearts filled with fear, we avoided the light,
Yet we knew to survive, the beast we must fight.
Weapons we fashioned from gold with our hands,
To fight ‘gainst the serpent, we’d now take our stand.
To fight ‘gainst the serpent, we’d now take our stand,
For kill it we must to escape from this land.
Out of the forest at twilight we ran,
To hunt down the serpent, to kill if we can.
To hunt down the serpent, to kill if we can.
Though frightened, yet desperate we were to a man.
The serpent lay sleeping on his mountain of gold.
We hacked out his eyes and there he lay cold.
We hacked out his eyes and there he lay cold.
Now we could return on our ship to our fold.
But as we prepared with our fortune to board,
From the serpent’s lair, something rumbled and roared.
From the serpent’s lair, something rumbled and roared,
So we fled form that land without our gold hoard.
And as on our ship, we fled on that day,
The sky around us with smoke turned grey.
The sky around us with smoke turned grey.
A volcano erupted! Our gold blew away!
And so we returned once more to our home,
With memories of friends. Never more we would roam.
With memories of friends. Never more we would roam,
Nor dream about gold now sunk below foam.
After this last verse, Uncle Billy continued to strum the chords on the guitar, gradually allowing them to fade away to nothing.
“Did that really happen?” we asked. Uncle Billy just grinned a broad grin and slowly shook his head from side to side.
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