Once upon a time,

In a far away place,

There lived Prince Raphael,

With whiskers on his face.

He worked at a factory,

That made paperclips.

And when no one was looking,

He hid them in his lips.

He thought he was quick,

He though he was smart.

He decided to hide them,

In his purple go-cart.

But soon he got cocky,

For his scheme was quite bad. 

He was turned in one day,

By none other than his dad.

Raphael was sent to trial,

For embezzling paperclips.

When he was found guilty,

His boss did back flips.

So the prince was under house arrest,

Locked up in his tall tower.

It was quite lovely, but you see…

It didn’t have a shower.

The days grew long, as weeks went by,

The march of time didn’t waiver.

And the prince’s beard grew long and thick,

For he forgot his shaver.

It grew so thick, that when he tried,

He couldn’t see it all.

It bothered him that when he walked,

He’d trip on it and fall.

Many a princess heard of his plight,

To his tower they did run.

But when they saw how tall it was,

They said, “This won’t be fun.”

Most of them turned to go,

Except for Princess Rose.

“Throw down your beard,” she cried aloud,

The prince replied, “Here goes!”

He picked it up and tossed it down,

But it landed on her head.

“Oh no,” she cried, “I broke a nail!”

Then ran away instead.

The prince was sad she had to go,

And cried for a week or two.

But then came Mary with her sheep,

In her bonnet, coloured blue.

“Alas,” he cried, “another girl,

To save me from this place.”

He jumped for joy and danced around,

Then fell flat on his face.

“Oh my,” she cried, “are you alright?”

But when he did not reply,

She took her sheep and piled them up,

Very, very high.

Mary was a little short,

So she climbed up on her sheep.

But the bottom one got a little scared,

And took a flying leap.

One by one they tumbled down,

Into a great big bush.

“Ouch!” Screeched Mary, “I really think,

I may have bruised my tush!”

When the prince came to, he looked around,

But didn’t find her there.

“Oh fiddlesticks,” he thought out loud,

“This really isn’t fair.”

First days went by, then weeks, then years,

But no one else had come.

“This really stinks,” he thought again,

“It’s really very dumb.”

But then before all hope was lost,

He heard a piercing call.

It was Alexis, Warrior Princess,

The greatest of them all.

“Hello my dear,” the prince did say,

Reaching for his beard.

“No need dear prince, for you don’t know,

The strength I have,” she sneered.

I have come to save you, yes siree!”

Said Alexis with a smile.

“Get started then, my fair princess,

This will surely take a while.”

She grabbed her dress, pulled up her socks,

And started up the tree.

“Oh me, oh my,” the prince did cry,

“Oh gosh, oh golly gee!”

“Calm down, young prince,” Alexis snapped,

“I’ve done all this before,

Just last week I saved a prince,

I swept him out the door.”

“Alright,” he said, “I’m in your hands,

Just don’t give me a fright.”

Then she continued up the tree,

It nearly took all night.

When she finally reached the top,

A problem she did see.

There was quite a great big gap,

‘tween the window and the tree.

“Oh no!”  Raphael did sigh,

“I guess we’ll have to quit!”

“Calm down my prince for there’s no need

To get into a snit.”

“Alright,” he said, “I guess you’re right,

I’ll just have to trust you.”

“Good choice,” she said with a nod,

“Now we’ve got work to do.”

She stood a while, eyes open wide

As thoughts ran through her head.

“I’ve got it prince, we’ll be alright,

Don’t worry dear,” she said.

She took her whip out from her belt

And swung it in the air,

It hooked on to a branch above

And she swung without a care.

Into his window she did land,

Upon the very sight

She closed her eyes then looked again

Then gasped with all her might.

Before her there were piles and stacks

Of shiny paperclips.

Stacked to the roof, ten feet tall,

With many peeks and dips.

“Well, hop to it,” said the prince,

“Get me out of here.”

“No time to waste,” she said with glee,

“Escape is very near!”

“What shall we do?  What is your plan?

How will we leave this tower?”

“With all these clips to wade through,

It might take half an hour.”

She made her way right to the door,

And reached out for the knob.

“The door is locked, we can’t go through,”

The prince began to sob.

“Oh, no it’s not,” Alexis said,

“It’s a pull door not a push!”

She pulled it open with all her might,

And they heard a great big WOOOSH!

“You did it!  You saved me!”  The prince cried out,

And ran right through the door.

“Thank you, thank you,” he cheered again,

“I’ll give you gold, jewels and more!”

“No need, dear prince,” Alexis said,

“I just want you by my side.”

She picked him up into her arms

“Let’s get my jeep and take a ride!”

So off they drove into the night,

To the place they’ll call their home.

And there they’ll live forever more,

With ten children all their own.

Their house is now a fancy shack,

With paperclips stacked to the rafters.

And there they’ll live in Mexico,

Illegally ever after.

By: Ashley and Megan, back in grade 12