MORE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF JONES THE CAT:

‘THE MEN OF STONE’

JONES CAME UPON A BEACH OF DREAD!
THE TREES WERE GNARLY; SHRUBS WERE DEAD.
AS HE SET FOOT ON DREARY SAND,
AND WANDERED THROUGH THIS DREARY LAND,

HE PONDERED, “WHAT A HORRID PLACE!”
AND IN A CAVE, HE SAW A FACE.
THE SAD AND STONY FACE WAS GRAY,
NOT MOVING, ANY, EITHER WAY.

AND JONES WENT TO THIS FACE OF STONE,
BUT THEN HE SENSED, “I’M NOT ALONE!”
JUST THEN, THE CAVE BEHIND HIM CLOSED,
AND STONES AROUND HIM QUICKLY ROSE,

BECAME STONE CREATURES FROM THE GROUND,
AND JONES WAS CIRCLED ALL AROUND.
“WHAT WILL THEY DO TO ME?”, HE PINED.
THOSE CREATURES THEN BEGAN TO WHINE,

“WE THINK WE’VE BEEN HERE MANY SUNS.
IN DARKNESS, WE’RE IMPRISONED SONS
OF KINGS AND QUEENS, THOUGH CONQUERED NOW.
IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE, ANYHOW.

STONE CREATURES WE WILL ALWAYS BE.
THE NORTHERN SORCERER, YOU SEE,
HAS SPOKEN CURSES ON US ALL.
AND WE HAVE NONE ON WHOM TO CALL,

TO BREAK THIS SPELL THE WICKED CAST
UPON US ALL, TO FREE AT LAST
THE LOT OF US, WHO DID NO HURT.
AND NOW, OH, CAT, WE ARE ALERT

BECAUSE OF YOUR LIVE PRESENCE HERE.
BUT NOW WE KNOW ONE THING QUITE CLEAR.
YOU’RE NOT THE ONE TO BREAK THE SPELL.
THE ONE WHO COMES, WE KNOW QUITE WELL,

WILL HAVE A DIAMOND AS A PLUM.
WE KNOW NOT WHEN THIS ONE WILL COME,
BUT BY THIS MAGIC DIAMOND WHITE,
WE WILL BE FREED FROM OUR SAD PLIGHT

THEN JONES REMEMBERED WHAT HE HAD
IN HIS POSSESSION, AND WAS GLAD.
HE PULLED THE DIAMOND FROM HIS SACK
HE’D CARRIED LONG UPON HIS BACK.

AND, AS HE HELD THE DIAMOND HIGH,
THEY HEARD THE THUNDER FROM THE SKY.
THE CAVE THEN LIT UP LIKE THE MOON.
JONES LOOKED AROUND, AND VERY SOON,

THE STONY CREATURES TURNED TO MEN.
THEY WERE ALL PRINCES; BACK AGAIN!
AND IN FINE ARMOR THEY WERE CLAD,
WITH POWER LIKE THEY'D NEVER HAD!

NEW SWORDS THAT GLISTENED IN THE CAVE.
A MIGHTY THRUST WITH SHOUTS THEY GAVE.
THEN WENT THEY WHERE THEY LIVED BEFORE,
AND THEN THE SORCERER WAS NO MORE,

FOR HE WAS BANISHED EVER MORE
UPON A DISTANT, WICKED SHORE.
AND WITH THEIR SWORDS, THEY SLICED THE AIR.
"THE 'WICKED' CAN’T GO ANYWHERE,

"FOR WE HAVE SLICED THE 'WICKED’S' BEACH
SO OTHER SHORES, HE CANNOT REACH."
THEN LADEN WITH MORE TREASURES GREAT,
JONES LEFT FOR LANDS AND SHORES THAT WAIT

FOR ONE TO COME AND HELP THEM SOON.
JUST THEN, JONES SAW A HUGE BALLOON
THAT CARRIED PERSONS THROUGH THE SKY.
SO JONES HOPPED IN AND SAID."GOODBYE."

FOR ALL THE PEOPLE CHEERED HIM ON,
AND WATCHED JONES TILL HE WAS QUITE GONE
TO OTHER PLACES HE MUST FREE.
(FOR THAT IS WHAT JONES DOES, YOU SEE!).