Thomas Wainwright
A Smile and a Wink
A Smile and a Wink
There once was a knight who was handsome and brave,
Many damsels and citizens he fought for and saved.
He knew the code of chivalry, he followed it well.
Many grand stories he did like to tell,
He told of battles with dragons and so,
He went everywhere that a man could go.
His name was Sir Tor, strong, but tame,
Everyone everywhere knew of his name.
However, there was sadness inside of his heart:
For he had no one from which to depart.
Of all the ladies he’d saved on his quests,
He couldn’t find one that was by far the best.
Then one day traveling, he found her afar:
In the far-away land of Galahar.
Her hair was like silk and was smooth to touch.
Tor found she captivated him very much.
The two fell in love in the faraway land,
And finally Sir Tor had asked for her hand.
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Thomas Wainwright
A Smile and a Wink
However, this marriage was not meant to be,
Without a quest for the father to see
Whether or not the knight was fit
To be the husband of his daughter Janet.
Here in the house of the girl so fair,
Lived her father, often compared to a bear.
His shoulders were wide, and so was his beard.
His name was Beardove, a name known, but not feared.
For Beardove had a gentle touch,
He loved books and learning very much.
He addressed Sir Tor like a man does a dog,
His voice was loud, his stance was broad.
“I know of your grandeur, I know of your deeds,
but can you provide for my daughter’s needs?
You are gifted with strength and with brawn,
You can ride on your horse far into dawn.
However, that is not what I request
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Thomas Wainwright
For my daughter of whom you love best.
A Smile and a Wink
For my daughter you need cunning and wit,
Not just simply to be physically fit.
So to prove if you have what it is I require,
I’ll give you a quest to test if you are desired.
A riddle will be your yearlong quest,
Your reward: my daughter’s hand, if you pass the test.”
The great man paused for a moment to think,
He scratched his beard and wandered to the sink.
“You’re quest” he said, “if accept it you wish,
is to tell me: how do you drown a fish?”
Sir Tor thought hard, he did not know.
To the lake of Golde he would have to go.
So he said goodbye to his love pretty and fair,
And left with one last stroke of her hair.
He rode long and hard, he rode day, night and noon.
He wanted his quest to be over with soon.
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Thomas Wainwright
He was halfway to the lake of Golde,
A Smile and a Wink
When he met a man not handsome, but old.
His calves were skinny, he was nothing but bone.
He picked under his toenails for items unknown.
His one eye was discolored a yellow of sorts,
Above the other eye was a big hairy wart.
He wore no shirt, exposing lanky frame,
But he was still an elder all the same.
So the brave, noble knight addressed the man with a bow,
And asked if he could be of help somehow.
“Why yes,” the man answered with a smile,
“I’ve been waiting for someone for quite a long while.
My bones are old, my body is bare,
I’ve even been losing most of my hair.
I get awfully cold while I wait here and stay,
But I am afraid that if I go away,
My young grandson will pass by this spot,
As he looks to take me back to his own plot.
We were just separated a few days ago,
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But I have news he heads here; so
A Smile and a Wink
I’ve decided to wait for his arrival,
But while I sit here, I struggle for survival.”
So Sir Tor gave him his cloak to wear,
Leaving just his tunic against his skin bare.
It wasn’t much to fight with the cold,
But it was all he could do to help a man so old.
“Many thanks” said the man bowing low,
“now I have a gift that I’d like to bestow
upon yourself to pay off my debt.”
With this he produced an old fishing net.
“I have no more use for this battered net,
it is yours for the taking, it is what you get.”
It was then Tor rode for the lake of Golde,
To find the answer that was worth more than gold.
Upon arrival he cast the net,
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And caught the first fish that he could get.
A Smile and a Wink
The fish was blue as the water below,
Its lanky frame wasn’t much to show.
It gasped as he held it, it had life to last,
Which gave Tor an idea, though just three months had passed.
On his way back to Galahar,
He encountered a woman who had travelled far.
She stood weeping on the side of the road,
About the same place as the man who was old.
She wore a dress that she had to sew,
It was as blue as the ocean below.
Her hair was brown; she wore a flower on top,
Though her scraggly hair looked more like a mop.
“Please, sir knight,” she said with worry,
“Please come over here and hurry!
I have no food, I have no abode,
I have only this dress which I myself sewed.
That and three kids who will soon be dead,
If I don’t find food for them and a warm bed.
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My husband has died, killed serving the King,
A Smile and a Wink
And now I am left here without a thing.
Please, good knight, if you have it in your heart,
Please don’t tear this family apart.”
The knight thought long about this request,
The family was virtuous, he knew it was best.
However, the only thing he had was the fish,
The only thing that could be served on a dish.
That and the money he carried around,
but without money, fish couldn’t be found.
Although back to the lake he knew he would go,
He gave fish and money to the grateful widow.
“Thank you,” she said, “a thousand times,
and here’s a gift, a small possession of mine.
I just found it one day in a merchant’s store,
But it will have to do, I haven’t any more.”
With this a small box the woman produced,
Tor was sure it couldn’t be used.
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Thomas Wainwright
So he rode back to the lake of Golde,
A Smile and a Wink
Back to find the answer worth more than gold.
He had lost time when he had to go back,
But a few extra months isn’t much time to lack.
A total of eight months he had been apart,
From the place where this quest had had its start.
He presented the fish to the man like a bear,
And asked for his love so pretty and fair.
However, the marriage was still not to be,
“You’ve come back with a fish I see,”
said the host of the quest,
“but I am still not very impressed.
We all know that you can catch a fish,
How does that get you closer to your wish?
How does a fish that is dead and down
Prove that you can make a fish drown.”
“I have not touched a gill or fin
on the fish with which I hope to win.
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Thomas Wainwright
I forced him out on the soil brown,
A Smile and a Wink
Out of the water, to make him drown.”
“Is that the answer you think right?
This proves that all you have is your might.
You think you can make a fish drown
When you take it out of the water and set it down?
If I were to choke you it wouldn’t stand,
Drowning isn’t something that happens on land!
Water is needed in order to drown
And I’ll demonstrate if you stick around!”
So Tor left again a little deflated.
This morning he felt extremely elated,
About finally finding what he thought was right
And going back to show his brain’s might.
Now he felt grief and sorrow,
He would have to leave again on the morrow.
Without enough time to go to Golde and here,
He would have to ask the people that lived very near.
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He feared that he wouldn’t make it in time,
A Smile and a Wink
Who would know the answer just asked on a dime?
Disappointed he set off on the same road,
Hoping to find a scholar’s abode.
It was at the same place as the elder and widow
That he met a young boy, his face full of woe.
The boy wore torn, ragged clothes,
He was covered in filth from his head to his toes.
Even his hair which sat on top,
Was messy and lewd, it looked like a mop.
“Please,” said the boy, about half his height,
“I need your help, I’m frozen with fright!
A bear has attacked our house all this year,
He comes, steals the berries, and then disappears.
I need a knight, full of courage and might,
Not someone who is half the knight’s height!”
The knight agreed, it had to be done.
It wouldn’t have been right to leave him and run,
Even if he knew it would be
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Thomas Wainwright
The last thing he could do and then he would leave,
A Smile and a Wink
To go back to his maiden so fair
Without an answer that he could share.
He did the thing that was chivalrous and kind,
But in doing so he had to leave his love behind.
After vanquishing the bear and saving the home,
He had to go back to his love’s abode.
He would arrive without an answer to spare,
And give up his love so pretty and fair.
“Wait,” said the boy as he turned and left,
“I have only one more request.
I ask that you take something of mine,
As payback for taking all of your time.”
With this the boy took a fish from a pot,
It was living, breathing, and squirming a lot.
He poured the water in the widow’s box,
And then put the fish in along with some rocks.
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“I know that there isn’t much I can do,
A Smile and a Wink
but I have a feeling that’s worth more to you.
Just be sure to give him a new box,
Without a new home he’ll be dead as a rock.
Just like a man trapped in a room airtight,
Without fresh water, he’ll drown by tonight.”
Tor then felt his heart miss a beat,
he had finally accomplished the tremendous feat
of completing the quest given to him by Beardove.
He could finally go back home to his love.
“I know what you want that for I think,”
the boy said as he left with a smile and a wink.
Tor did find his behavior strange,
but he didn’t care, he had a wedding to arrange!
He rode home, and steered his horse with care.
He got back to the house with just one day to spare.
He presented the fish to the father of Janet,
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Who carefully and thoughtfully examined it.
A Smile and a Wink
“What I have here is a fish that is drowned”
said Tor, giving the answer that he had found,
“I haven’t touched this fish in the past,
but he still couldn’t make his life last.
He died in the bottom of his lair,
Even though he hadn’t been stranded in air.
All animals have the same basic needs,
Whether we live in the air or the seas.
Whatever a fish gets from water to respire,
Ran out in this box, and then he expired.
Always in the water, but failing to breathe,
He eventually died is what I believe.
Down to the bottom he did fall down,
When this fish had finally drowned.”
Beardove beamed with a look of delight,
he now knew that Tor had more than his might.
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Thomas Wainwright
“The test you have passed I am proud to say,
A Smile and a Wink
you have finally proved yourself on this memorable day.
You accomplished the task laid out for you,
Now it is time I gave you your due.”
"At first I didn’t think that I would win,
I don’t see myself as having much acumen,”
The knight admitted, modest and fair,
But Beardove shook his head and then said with care,
“I wasn’t looking for powerful minds,
I wanted someone who was selfless and kind.
In order to prove that your hand would do,
You had to show you cared for more than you.
You clothed the man although very old
On your first travel to the lake of Golde.
Then, on your way back, you gave up your fish
In order to fill a poor child’s food dish.
Finally you gave up your love so dear,
In order to help a boy frozen in fear.
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Thomas Wainwright
These three people you had never met,
A Smile and a Wink
Even still, you have helped them yet.
You showed your worth and did your part,
Now I know that she’ll be in your heart.”
With that it was all explained and done,
But as far as questions Tor still had one.
“How did you know I had helped all of those,
If you weren’t there with me when they arose?”
“I get around, I hear all the talk.
I hear most of the news when I go for a walk.
You may find your actions worthless and small,
But to me, they’re the most important of all.”
With that he turned for the door by the sink,
And left the couple with a smile and a wink.
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