Classic Poem

The Carrameera fairies went to Meenawarawor
Where the goodwives placed the butter on the lintels of the door—
The fairies went there early before the town was up
And every little fairy brought an empty buttercup,
But that day they got no butter, for the cats were there before,
Cats that licked the fairy lintels o'er in Meenawarawor.
Spoke the Queen of all the fairies: “I will curse them heart and head,
Curse them in the cradle and curse them in the bed,
Curse their stock and substance, curse each home and hill,
Curse the hale and hearty and curse the weak and ill!
They were happy while they served us, but they'll now be sick and sore!”
This, the curse, the Queen of Fairies put on Meenawarawor.

Now all the folk are weeping from the mountain to the plain,
For the churn that bears no butter and the field that bears no grain,
For the fire that will not kindle and the pot that will not boil,
Since the Fairy Curse is heavy on the shieling, stock and soil.
Yet the wives still place the butter on the lintels of the door
And the cats are getting fatter now in Meenawarawor!