In Castle-town in the groping slums
where rats hope for food, for crumbs
there is a house, a hovel dark
of toadstools and crumblebark.
Lives in it a hag of terror fame
Miz Grumblewort is her fearsome name.
Her eyes are yellow, her teeth are green
her warts are hairy and quite obscene
her cat is black and very cunning
the sight of it sends most folks running.
For they know the story I?ll tell
when once Miz Grumblewort was a girl named Nell?
Nell was young many years ago
she laughed at sun, she laughed at snow
her eyes were green and very bright
her hair was yellow her teeth were white.
She had a kitten of pumpkin hue
with a ring on its tail and eyes of blue.
She would run and play with girls or boys
and was not shy about sharing toys.
Her favorite place was the candy store
with its sweet smells and painted door
and it was here one fateful day
that Nell came to eat and play.
The storekeep had a surprise this time
a candy toad from an exotic clime
Nell?s eyes lit up as the took the treat
eaten, it went straight to her feet
then the tingling left her toes
and she felt something grow on the tip of her nose.
A tiny wart with one thin hair?
From a candy toad? This was not fair!
Nell tried oils and potions fine
then fire and even turpentine
despite all she did the wart grew and spread.
Nell became a witch to keep herself fed.
The older and larger her hairy wart grew
The less Nell was the girl we once knew.
She turned to dark arts and grew quite thin
and became Miz Grumblewort to kith and kin.
Her kitten became a cat black as sable
and now that we come to the end of this fable
of Castle-town and its groping slums
where rats hope for food, for crumbs
Remember next time when you try strange candy
make sure to keep a doctor handy
or you might end up with Grumbleworts curse
you could get warts or something worse!