Ghyll:Edvard von Craghelm

See Anaximancer. The popular fame of Edvard von Craghelm is best summed up, in my opinion, in the following traditional ballad recorded in the Plain of Brahang:

Edvard von Craghelm came to town

Wearing a black and purple gown
With a blue-green cloak and a belt so red

And a midnight beret upon his head.

He entered the mart at the break of day

Waving the sellers and buyers away
And holding a staff so big and long

And singing his old von Craghelm song.

CHORUS:

With a rand-a-keer
And a ho-de-veer

Edvard von Craghelm makes it appear!

He took the beret right off his head

And put his hand inside it instead
And took out so many wondrous things

Too good, they say, for the richest of kings.

He pulled out a ball all made of gold

And next came a Dagger Sea pirate so bold
That walked and talked, and brandished his sword

And hid his treasure inside his hoard.

CHORUS:

And next he plucked right out of his hat

A brass-bound Aelfant, big and fat
And a darseed tree at the height of its bloom

And a full-sized Alezan grinding broom.

The magic beret it seemed to be done

But that wasn't all of von Craghelm's fun
He pulled out a whole pie from inside his cloak

And all of us laughed just to see the joke.

CHORUS:

Edvard marched from vill to vill

With his magic hat he earned his fill
Though his hands were quick, his feet were small

And he never could manage to fool us all.

Edvard von Craghelm was walking one day

From Egron to Gibbon† he made his way
Across Umbo Moor toward Wentzel Fen

And then, and then, and then, and then ...

FINAL CHORUS:

With a rand-a-keered
And a ho-de-veered

Edvard von Craghelm ... DISAPPEARED!

†Presumably Marsh Gibbon

Citations: Anaximancer, Plain of Brahang, Umbo Moor.

--John Cowan 01:09, 2 Oct 2004 (EDT)