Times of Glory 9: Three Children of Midas

Times of Glory 9: Three Children of Midas (Trigger Warning in desc)

9 Three Children of Midas

"Glory" – This shall be your name

I pray it brings you light and fame

I name you this, my daughter, so you’ll know how I think of you

By radiance of Mother Goose

May this name ever be proof

That you are blessed and beautiful, for that's how much I love you

Though I must now send you away –

For it's the price that I must pay –

Know that someone loves you dear

Glory, blessed in all of Near

The Siblings Move Far Away

The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for a crown

The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the town

Some threw them white bread, some threw them brown

All helped to pack them up and send them out of town!!

But Glory won't be cast aside, for as she is the people's pride

She will stay with them a year, then finally escape from here

To go and find her Brothers dear, and live then by their side…

Richard and Robin

Richard, called the Lion, chased the Water Girls

Robin, called the Unicorn, followed close behind.

Richard called the Unicorn, "Come catch their cutely curls~"

Robin called the Lion, "I believe you’ve lost your mind!"

But the giggling Girls of Water

Thought his antics quite an honor

And snatched the brothers off to Far Away.

They arrived on foreign ground

And even as they looked around

Richard raised his arms, "Let's seize the Day!"

Richard was a loud man, flamboyant in his ploys!

Robin was a cautious man, who didn't care for noise.

Both the brothers, they were strong, and as they walked the land

A wonderous Garden caught their eye, and Richard made a plan:

"I declare this spot is mine!" said Richard with a grin –

But suddenly a Cat came up and knocked him on his chin!

Richard and the White Queen’s Guard

"Get out of here!" hissed the Cat, while ringing loud a Bell.

"The guards will come – you'd better run! I know your kind too well!"

But Robin saw a little girl who hid behind the Cat.

Her lips were red, her skin was pale, her hair a jet night black.

Robin said, "Don’t worry, little one. He means no harm."

Though sure enough, the guards came running at the Cat's alarm.

But recognizing Richard, the guards said,

"Hail! Son of Midas!"

Richard grinned. "You’ve rightly spoken.

Yet, how fate has tried us!

Would you allow my brother and I

To meet your King and rest a by?

Our journey has been long to here,

For we traveled to Far from Near."

So the guards did take the brothers

Off to meet with good King Claus.

These Midas sons were well received,

The White Queen offered them a house.

And it was that very day, when these two were asked to stay

That someone stole the dumplings,

And Cat caught herself a mouse.

Lucy and Robin

Little Lucy, Mother's beauty

Wherefore dost thou cling so much to me?

For I am but a Unicorn –

My brother is the stronger one, you see.

But it was – when they had left –

Sweet Lucy Snow did cry!

She wished to see Robin again!

He must come by and by!

So the Queen would ask him back

And one day became another

But alas, it took too much

To handle Robin's brother…

Richard behaved just like Fire

Lucy Snow was blessed by Ice

The White Queen would not have her daughter

Grow up under his advice

The Lion Despises

Still, the Unicorn would come

Quite often to the palace…

The Lion watched him, cold as stone,

With eyes to bear him malice…

How could they allow one brother

And then not invite the other?

Was he not greater? He not stronger?

Such thoughts made his heart grow callous…

The Lion and the Unicorn were brothers of a Crown

The Lion became popular all across the town

He’d be recognized The Strongest!

He would be renowned the longest!

Richard Tells Tales

On the rooftops, Richard spoke:

"Behold! A son of Midas!"

People heard his awesome words and said,

"We’ll let him guide us!

Certainly, he does have charm – son of the Golden King!"

So he told them many tales – of all his wandering:

Richard slayed a Dragon once, and stole from it a Mirror!

He brought it back for Glory, so she’d see her beauty clear~

And when he fought his brother, every time Richard would win!

Though not in archery, he ceded. That, he gave Robin.

But oh how great King Midas’ Sons! AND how great his Daughter!

If only they could see her now, but she was 'cross the Water…

Robin and Glory… and Richard

What character, our Robin.

He rebuilt up my fence.

He can shoot a bow.

He gave me three pence.

He fixed up my shoe.

What character, Oh what character!

Our beloved Robin!

A year passed before Glory came to seek her second brother;

She found him over by a lake with thoughts of hunting game.

"Robin! Oh my Robin!" she cried, hurrying to greet him.

He dropped his bow to lift her up, and laughed, "You're still the same."

She hugged her brother tightly, but soon let him go and said,

"Brother… I have left the Nearby village. Yea, I fled…

I want to stay with you, and Richard – Far, where we can hide us!

Where no one's seen my beauty, or heard tales of Gold King Midas!

I will recline, Richard will laugh, your bow will catch your quarry-"

But even as she spoke, the Lion caught sight of her. "Glory!"

He called to the people with him, "Come and see! My sister's here!

You will never see a one more beautiful or fair!"

This is Glory's tear…

It's not reflected in the Mirror.

The Path They Laid for Glory

"Glory!" said Richard. "Come! Smile for me!

Will you greet just one, not the other?"

Glory gave him a curtsy. "Of course.

Of course I'll smile for you, brother."

People came from all around for Lion’s every story

Within a year, the White Queen passed, King Claus was heavy-laiden

The citizens of Far Away all called that he take Glory

For who better to be their Queen than this Golden-blessed maiden?

For any King should want to hold

A girl whose Goose laid eggs of gold!

And so King Claus remarried, and they had a Golden Queen.

And 'Everyone was happy,' or that's how things should have been…

Glory’s brothers came to visit her within the palace

Claus had filled it up with Gold, from Bell to wall to chalice

Even though the people cheered

For all the Gold they’d seen,

Some still held a Fire’s fear

And missed the late White Queen.

Glory Will Not Cry

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall

Who is fairest of them all?

And what is it, that I'm fair

If I’ll never know love’s true care?

Jenny Wren

Here is Jenny Wren

Once one of the White Queen's maids

She’d let in a mouse

She loves to dress in silk and lace

Whenever she goes out

She oh so sweetly, humbly says

That silk and lace are reserved for grace

And she’s far too modest for such a place

Here is Jenny Wren

Sickly sweetest of women

Come now, Jenny – Jenny Wren – and use your callow ploys again.

Jenny Talks to the Queen

"Oh my Gold Queen," said Jenny the maid

"I see that you are fair…

I know your beauty from afar,

And curling golden hair.

But I wonder what it is

That distresses you so?"

Jenny gently bowed her head.

"My Queen, what can I do?"

Glory saw her calming eyes, and told the maid her worry:

"It seems I am not wanted here for anything but glory."

Jenny said, "But you are loved! Hm… Well, I know just the thing.

Jill, the one who watches Snow, was loved by the White Queen.

She does not accept you, though you're with us half a year.

Would it not be better, then, to send her off from here?

And you will see then for yourself if our good dearly King

Loves you as truly as he should – for are you not now his Queen?"

The Cat Departs

The King sent off the Cat; the Cat refused to go.

"If I leave, then who will stay to watch dear Lucy Snow!?"

But Jenny Wren stepped up and said,

"Am I not too a maid?

I will watch the darling thing,

For I too worked for our late Queen."

And everything worked out for her, just as her plan was laid.

Robin met Jill at the shore.

"I'm sad to see you go.

But may we reunite once more."

Said Jill, "May it be so."

Glory Has A Daughter

A year then passed, and Glory bore a little girl of red

Red on the rose and on her lips and on her little head

Robin loved the little girl, but Richard boldly said,

"What a child! If not beautiful, than rather dead!"

Glory was known Far and Near to have a special gift –

The gifting of the Butterfly, to make one's structure shift

Many days, she could be found,

Experimenting all around

Like she’d done once with the mice

Oh, she had fixed them up quite nice!

And she thought of it a game

That all people were the same

Except her Dearest Darling Dolly~

Yea, her Perfect Precious Polly…

Richard Despises Polly

"Oh Queen Gold, what a sorrowful soul!"

Said Richard at least once a day.

"Do you not have the power to change that bean pole

To a lady of proper display!"

The same strange sickness that claimed the White Queen

Took also King Claus, when young Polly turned three.

Her uncle – Lord Richard – his taunting grew worse

And each day he plagued the young girl like a curse.

With every new morning, Polly would hear it:

"Your mother's a beauty, so then what of you?"

He'd point then to Lucy, "Do you not fear it?

You need to become someone beautiful too!

Else none in the Kingdom will ever like you."

The Queen would come quickly and tell him to "Shoo!!"

Glory and her Daughter

Little Polly Flinders

Sat among the cinders

Warming her pretty little toes~

But when her mother caught her,

She spanked her little daughter –

For Polly should not ruin her nice clothes!

With all she had, Glory refused to guinea pig her Polly –

"You’re beautiful just as you are! You're Mother's Darling Dolly.

So do not soil up your clothes, or they won't match your beauty.

Keep yourself respectfully – that is your only duty."

A Sorrow Impending

But one day when Glory could not be around

As people came by from each Far Away town

Her dear brother Robin was set to watch Polly

Until the young girl asked for pie.

Kind Robin then patted her little red head.

"I'll talk to the kitchen," her dear uncle said.

"But you should be good, and to stay right here, okay?"

Said Polly, "Of course! I'll be fine!"

The Worst Thing

Robin left Polly out there in the Garden –

The field of her mother's red roses.

Red like her hair! Stems of green like her eyes!

And some blooms were pink, just like her toeses!

But the guards were paid off, by a man of much hate

Golden Richard came out from the trees.

He saw the small girl, picked her up by her curls

And then carried her off with great ease.

Glory’s Fury

Glory's last experiment had been upon a sword

A heavy, giant weapon that had crashed onto the shore

She had shifted down its length, and heighten up its power

So greatly she increase its strength that anyone would cower

With it, if one bore strong will,

Anyone that one could kill.

Glory held it carefully – the sword was hard to wield.

Though it was smaller, strength alone still wouldn’t make it yield.

And if she was not taking care, it might act on its own,

But perhaps her eldest brother, with his skills so honed…

Yes! Surely, he could wield this blade!

She owed him presents, anyway!

Excitedly, she sought him out, to bring to him her sword.

But when she spied him, suddenly she lost her wind for words.

He had grabbed her Precious Darling Daughter by her hair

And in the woods, now beat her blue, because she was not fair…

Without a second breath, or even time to think,

She rushed him in Rage! … and it was over in a blink.

Robin Finds Them

Robin ran quick through the Garden – Polly was not there!

The guards had claim they didn't know – and to this they would swear!

But when he found his niece and sister at last in the wood…

He froze, unsure of how to move … or even if he should.

Glory, oh Glory

Our brother is through

I see now our story

… And wish it weren't true.

Glory’s Turn

These are Glory's tears

And if you were to bring a Mirror

For this time and this time alone…

They would be reflected here.

Glory turned to Robin, greatest sorrow in her eyes

Oh what had she done! Oh this pain she could not hide!

But her sorrow turned to blame, for that is the way of things...

"Where were you!? Had you been here, this would not be happening!!

You were to be guarding Polly! You were to guard my daughter!

GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, YOU CUR! GO BACK ACROSS THE WATER!!!!"