Aidan was having an off morning with his basketball routine, only hitting 20% of his 15-footers instead of his normal 80%. So I started playing guitar and singing a made-up song to try to encourage him not to get frustrated when he missed his shots. While doing so, I was reminded of a song I composed and sang to Gavin when he was just a baby. Here are the lyrics.
The Ballad of Gavin and Rapunzel
by: C. Michael Pilato, December 10, 2003It was a late hour / When Gavin approached the castle with a flower. / It was a late hour / When he tried to save Rapunzel from the tower. / But a witch was waiting there / When he climbed that rope of hair. / And she warned Prince Gavin his vision would fade / And that she'd banished fair Rapunzel far away.
It was a dark minute / When Gavin's flight the witch tried to inhibit. / It was a dark minute / When he toppled toward the thornbush and fell down in it. / As the witch had prophesied, / The thorns tore into his eyes. / And so in blindness Prince Gavin did roam / Miles and miles away from his princely home.
It was a grand second in their lives / When Gavin's face Rapunzel thought she recognized. / It was a grand second in their lives / When stumbling through the desert he heard her beckon through her cries. / And all of those painful years / Washed away in Rapunzel's tears. / Then all of their sorrows turned to laughter again / And they lived happily ever after. The End.
I admit the subject matter is a little advanced for a six-month-old. We haven't made a habit of exposing our boys to graphic storytelling or anything.
Oh, wait. That's not true. We do read them the Bible...
