The Wishing Well

Twas a balmy spring, long ago I strolled a wooded dell And there amongst the willow trees I saw a wishing well Beside the well there was a girl young and very pretty she turned and said ‘Hello’ to me sounding of self pity I asked of her what was amiss She said’ This is no fun I‘ve no coin for the wishing well can you please lend me one’ I gave to her a shilling coin so her wish could come true She threw it down into the well and said ‘How dumb of you’ Her expression was a grimace A vile beast she became and growled ‘I thank you for your help’ to play my little game’ The beast cackled ‘you are a fool and for my trick you fell please let me introduce myself Lord Lucifer from Hell’ The Devil he stood there grinning “You may be a little shocked when my palm was crossed with silver the gates of Hell unlocked’ His smoking breath licked at the air he laughed with evil mirth ‘Soon the creatures of my Kingdom will swarm across the Earth Now God will be so furious as angry as can be so let’s cut out the paperwork and pledge your soul to me’ I had no clue what I should do to get out of this fix I heard from deep inside the well the splashing of the Styx So I said ‘Hold on there Satan one thing here is not right for do you not still owe to me one shilling shiny bright?’ The Devil merely laughed and said ‘This debt I‘ll never meet’ I answered ‘Then it’s just as well that coin was counterfeit’ ‘A counterfeit! coin!’ cried Satan ‘Have you not any shame?’ Which I thought was a little rich from one who bore his name He said ‘If that was not silver the magik will not work now the gates will not swing open and I may go berserk’ Although the gates of Hell were locked things still looked rather bad Old Nick still had me in his reach and he was hopping mad I held up one more coin and said ‘This one of silver be Tails, I will give my coin to you Heads, keep it and go free’ Satan considered and agreed he had not much to lose I flipped the coin high in the air it landed by his shoes ‘Its Heads!’ he cried in fearful rage he was as mad as hell he jumped up and down in anger then fell into the well Should you go strolling in the dell I think you may deduce you’ll need a double sided coin or Hell may be let loose