Wrote this for my dd2's 5th birthday and read it to the kids just before tea - went down a treat so I thought I would massage my ego and post it on here:
Billy the Hero
A long time ago at the top of a hill,
There was an old house ? I think it?s there still.
It had rickety windows and creaking old doors,
It had moth-eaten curtains and worm-ridden floors.
Nobody lived in that creepy old house,
No one, that is, except Billy the mouse.
Billy lived in the attic, right at the top,
(From the roof to the ground was a mighty big drop),
He lived all alone and was quite content,
With his large attic space at a very low rent.
Billy was brave and Billy was bright,
He wasn?t afraid of the dark or the night,
He wasn?t worried about spiders or bats,
But there was one thing he didn?t like. Can you guess? It was cats!
Cats long and fluffy, cats skinny and thin,
Small cats, stripy cats, fat ones that grin,
Cats with long whiskers, cats short or tall,
No exaggeration ? he hated them ALL!
As he looked out of his house at the world going by,
All the cats in the neighbourhood soon caught his eye,
He spied them all out, did that brave and bright mouse
At the top of the hill, at the top of the house.
?How I dislike those furballs!? Billy shivered.
From his tail to his whiskers he quaked and he quivered.
?I?ve lost so many friends to a feline snack,
Perhaps one day I could get my own back!?
Of all the cats who lived near Billy?s hill,
There was one cat he hated more fervently still,
This cat was lean and mean and rough,
And all round the hill he was known as Tom Tough.
Tom the Tough was a cat most nasty,
He?d eat a mouse the way you?d eat a pasty,
He?d never a thought for the poor orphaned mice
When he ate mum and dad ? in two words ? he?s NOT NICE!
Billy sat in his attic, watching Tough Tom prowl,
On his face there was the most dreadful scowl,
?I?ll get that cat, if it?s the last thing I do!
(Then he held his breath till his face went blue).
He breathed again and his face turned pink,
?Aha!? he said, with a nod and a wink,
?I have a plan that can?t go wrong,
I know a way to deal with Tough Tom!?
And he leaned out of the window at the top of the house,
And at the top of his voice (quite high for a mouse),
He called out to Tom the Tough on his round,
?Hey, fat cat! Yes, you on the ground!?
?You?re fat and you?re smelly and all four feet stink!
If you fall in the bath your tail will shrink!
You think that you?re tough but I know that I?m right,
I bet you won?t dare come up here for a fight!
Quick as a flash Tom the Tough leapt the gate
And careered up the path at a tremendous rate.
He entered the house through a hole in the door,
And made his way up to the worm-ridden top floor.
Up the stairs he crept till he got to the attic,
But Billy ? our hero ? he hadn?t been static,
He had hitched himself to a piece of string,
Which was attached to the window ? not quite dangling.
?Oho!? he yelled to the furious Tom Tough,
?Aren?t you the fancy bit of stuff!
Go on then, catch me if you will!?
And he stood on the edge of the windowsill.
Tough Tom?s eyes narrowed ? he leapt in the air ?
What a beautiful leap ? what style, what flair!
What an idiot, what a fool, through the window he went,
And realised he was making his final descent!
Billy swung on his string, and then he laughed,
?He thinks he?s clever, but really he?s daft!
He let thought of his dinner get in the way of his sense,
And now he?s flattened himself on the fence!?
A long time ago at the top of the hill,
There was an old house ? and I?m sure it?s there still ?