Emerald Isle (Challenge Winner)

Challenge Description by WEbdreamer: Write an epic style poem on a fantasy subject, It must have dragons, knights, and any fantasy creatures you wish to use in it. Emerald Isle Before the days of knights and dragons On the Emerald Isle it’s said Lived the ghastly Beast of Bristles Some have called it “Isle of Dead” None have come back from this island All who tried were spiked and burned That is why some folks still say It was “The Isle of no return” It’s a place of velvet meadows Lovely hills and snow white sand What is now the Emerald Isle Once was christened “No Man’s Land” All had great desire to live there But somehow they couldn’t wrench This wasted land from Beast of Bristles Slimy snout and sultry stench This creature lived a thousand years A thousand more he would remain A thorn of hope, a spike of fate The bristled spear of life’s distain For dreaded monster though he be Across the isle he spread his waste The Beast of Bristles made the isle The earth’s most fruitful, fertile place Every youth had in a vision Conquering the Bristly beast Every one who tread the isle Was made a bristled beastly feast The folks had gathered in the hall Deciding that a hundred men Would cross the channel late at night And trap him in the creature’s den A hundred men with swords and spears And catapults to smash his brains The most skilled fighters, slingshots, rocks, Every weapon they could name They came upon the monster’s home The cavern wreaked of beastly grime Surrounding it , they waited for A signal in a moments time The beast emerged from out the cave The moonlight shown his ugly head So shocked were they who witnessed live The beast more gruesome than was said The sign was given, the battle cry The spears and rocks and arrows flew But spiky bristles by the thousands Was a force they couldn’t outdo The dead men numbered ninety-nine Speared and singed , a warrior’s plight One escaped to tell the tale Of beast impossible to fight Then one young man stood up and claimed The Beast of Bristles would be killed He’d squelch the fire from his nostrils Leave him eyeless and dequilled Laughter echoed in the tavern Jokes spread wildly through the town How could a novice gypsy traveler Put a Beast of Bristles down? So young and thin, no warrior he Who claimed the animal would die They watched him board a little craft With just one arrow by his side The laughter rose with visions of A scrawny lad upon a barge With bow and arrow by his side To kill an animal so large They laughed away the day and night And drank as jokes flew through the air A gypsy with one single arrow.  What a joke beyond compare The boy, meanwhile was coming close He gasped for breath in musky stench The Beast of Bristles soon appeared The boy hid in a nearby trench The monster was not fooled at all He clamored in his awkward gate Knowing what would lie ahead The tragedy of youngster’s fate He then appeared above the boy Bristles poised to swiftly fly He opened wide his fiery mouth And fury marked his evil eye The boy within a second’s time Shot an arrow through the air A secret poison gypsy potion Handed down to gypsy heir The bristles of the beast fell off And underneath this spiky shield There was an ugly wormy creature Not a weapon left to wield The boy returned upon a barge With ugly monster head in tow He was the hero of all time The rest’s a story we all know They settled on the Emerald Isle That will remain forever green And this must be an Irish tale I heard it from a sweet colleen Written February 14th, 2002 © on Feb 13 2002 10:21 PM PST   0 • 10