The Wood Chopper (Part two)
On the way back to the town,
they started talking with a frown.
The wood chopper seemed suspicious to them.
He just didn’t answer where or when.
Then they thought about the stew.
Whatever the meat was, no one knew.
A couple of them up chucked their lunch.
They rushed back as one big bunch.
They burst into the choppers cabin.
Two blocked the door so they could grab him.
“What kind of meat was in that stew?”
“It was rabbit, you ignorant fool.”
They tied him up and took him to town.
Right away many people gathered around.
When they told them about the stew,
they yelled “Hang him. That’s the rule.”
They built a gallows in the town square.
It had a trap door to snap his neck there.
They hauled the chopper up to the noose.
Put a black hood on his head. Kept it loose.
Then put the noose around his neck.
The hangman tugged it. Not in just.
With the mayor’s nod, he pulled the lever.
The trapdoor flew open, really cleaver.
The wood chopper dropped through.
The crowd cheered because they knew.
The wood chopper’s neck had snapped.
Then they looked within the trap.
To their shock no one was there.
Just the noose and the hood lying there.
Where the hell could he have gone?
People were feeling spooked before long.
A group headed for the wood chopper’s cabin.
They thought he was there and would grab him.
He was gone, along with the wood.
How could that be? Too much wood.
No one could move that much wood that fast.
There were no tracks in the grass.
In the afternoon, the missing girl walked into town.
She said wolves cared for her. One lead her to town.
The wood chopper was innocent. What had they done?
Several people were ready to run.
The wood chopper was never seen again.
The town didn’t know how to amend their sin.
Years later, it was just an old wives tale.
Many thought it wasn’t true, as they drank their ale.
But, the old folks,—- children at the time.
Knew it was not a nursery rhyme.
How & when would the town pay for their crime?
——————————————————-R.W. Johnson—–(2020)