Dahl Roald

Stories

Lamb to the Slaughter

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html

Revolting Rhymes

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

When little Snow-White's mother died,
The king, her father, up and cried,
'Oh, what a nuisance! What a life!
'Now I must find another wife!'
(It's never easy for a king
To find himself that sort of thing!)

He wrote to every magazine
And said, "I'm looking for a Queen.'
At least ten thousand girls replied
And begged to be the royal bride
The king said with a shifty smile,
'I'd like to give each one a trial.'

However, in the end he chose
A lady called Miss Maclahose,
Who brought along a curious toy
That seemed to give her endless joy --
A MAGIC TALKING LOOKING-GLASS.

Ask it something day or night,
It always got the answer right.
For instance, if you were to say,
'Oh, Mirror, what's for lunch today?'
The thing would answer in a trice,
'Today it's scrambled eggs and rice.'

Now every day, week in week out,
The spoiled and stupid Queen would shout,
'Oh Mirror Mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?'
The mirror answered every time,
'Oh Madame, you're the Queen sublime.
'You are the only one to charm us.
'Queen, you are the cat's pyjamas.'
For ten whole years the silly Queen
repeated this absurd routine.

Then suddenly, one awful day,
She heard the Magic Mirror say,
'From now on, Queen, you're Number Two.
'Snow-White is prettier than you!'
The Queen went absolutely wild.
She yelled 'I'm going to scrag that child!'
'I'll cook her flaming goose! I'll skin 'er!
'I'll have her rotten guts for dinner!'
She called the Huntsman to her study.
She shouted at him, "Listen, buddy!"
'You drag that filthy girl outside,
'and see you take her for a ride!
'Thereafter slit her ribs apart
'And bring me back her bleeding heart!"
The Huntsman dragged the lovely child
Deep deep into the forest wild.

Fearing the worst, poor Snow-White spake.
She cried, 'Oh please give me a break!'
The knife was poised, the arm was strong,
She cried again, 'I've done no wrong!'
The Huntsman's heart began to flutter.
It melted like a pound of butter.
He murmured, 'Okay, beat it, kid,'
And you can bet your life she did.

Later the Huntsman made a stop
Within the local butcher's shop.
And there he bought, for safety's sake,
A bullock's heart and one nice steak.

'Oh Majesty! Oh Queen!' he cried,
'That rotten little girl has died!
'And to prove I didn't cheat,
'I've brought along these bits of meat.'
The Queen cried out 'Bravissimo!'
'I trust you killed her nice and slow.'
Then (this is the disgusting part)
The Queen sat down and ate the heart!
(I only hope she cooked it well.
Boiled heart can be as tough as hell.)

While all of this was going on,
Oh where, oh where had Snow-White gone?
She'd found it easy, being pretty,
To hitch a ride into the city,
And there she'd got a job, unpaid,
As general cook and parlour-maid,
With seven funny little men,
Each one not more than three foot ten,
Ex horse-race jockeys, all of them.

These Seven Dwarfs, though awfully nice,
Were guilty of one shocking vice --
They squandered all of their resources
At the race-track backing horses.
(When they hadn't backed a winner,
None of them got any dinner.)
One evening, Snow-White said, 'Look here,
'I think I've got a great idea.
'Just leave it all to me, okay?
'And no more gambling till I say.'

That very night, at eventide,
Young Snow-White hitched another ride,
And then, when it was very late,
She slipped in through the Palace gate.
The King was in his counting house
Counting out his money,
The Queen was in the parlour
Eating bread and honey,
The footmen and the servants slept
So no one saw her as she crept
On tip-toe through the mighty hall
And grabbed THE MIRROR off the wall.

As soon as had got it home,
She told the Senior Dwarf (or Gnome)
To ask it what he wished to know.
'Go on!' she shouted. 'Have a go!'
he said, 'Oh Mirror, please don't joke!
'Each one of us is stony broke!
'Which horse will win tomorrow's race,
'The Ascot Cup Steeplechase?'
The Mirror Whispered sweet and low,
'The horse's name is Mistletoe.'

The Dwarfs went absolutely daft,
They kissed young Snow-White fore and aft,
Then rushed away to raise some dough
With which to back old Mistletoe.
They pawned their watches, sold the car,
They borrowed money near and far,
(For much of it they had to thank
The manager of Barclays Bank.)
They went to Ascot and of course
For once they backed the winning horse.
Thereafter, every single day,
The Mirror made the bookies pay.
Each Dwarf and Snow-White got a share,
And each was soon a millionaire,
Which shows that gambling's not a sin
Provided that you always win.

---

¹compare sounds: awful/waffle.

rhyme scheme

died / cried	life / wife	king / thing
'zine / Queen	replied / bride	smile / trial
chose / 'hose	toy / joy	--GLASS
night / right	say / day	trice / rice
out / shout	wall / all	time / sublime
us / pyjamas	Queen / routine	day / say
two / you	wild / child	'er / dinner
study / buddy	outside / ride	apart / heart
child / wild	spake / break	strong / wrong
flutter / butter	kid / did	stop / shop
sake // steak	cried / died	cheat / meat
Bravissimo / slow	part / heart	well / hell
on / gone	pretty / city	paid / maid
men / ten / (them)	nice / vice	resources / horses
winner / dinner	here / idea	okay / say
tide / ride	late / gate	--house | parlour -- // money / honey
slept / crept	hall / wall	home / Gnome
know / go	joke / broke	race / Steeplechase
Mistletoe / low	daft / aft	dough / Mistletoe
car / far	thank / Bank	course / horse
day / pay	share / millionaire	sin / win

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, 'May I come in?'
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
'He's going to eat me up,' she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
and Wolfie wailed, 'That's not enough!'
'I haven't yet begun to feel
'That I have had a decent meal!'
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
I've got to have another helping!'
Then added with a frightful leer,
'I'm therefore going to wait right here
'Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
'Comes home from walking in the wood.'
He quickly put on Grandma's clothes.
(Of course he hadn't eaten those.)
He dressed himself in coat and hat
He put on shoes and after that
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,

'What great big ears you have, Grandma.'
'All the better to hear you with,' the Wolf replied.
'What great big eyes you have, Grandma,' said Little Red Riding Hood.
'All the better to see you with,' the Wolf replied.

He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going o eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma
She's going to taste like caviare.

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, 'But Grandma, what a lovely big furry coat you have on.'
'That's wrong!' cried Wolf. 'Have you forgot
'To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
'Ah well, no matter what you say,
'I'm going to eat you anyway.'
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, 'Hello, and do please note
'My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT.'