First, someone told it,
Then the room could not hold it,
So busy tongues rolled it
Till they got it outside.
Then the crowd came across it,
They stretched it and tossed it,
And never once lost it,
Till it grew long and wide.
This lie brought forth others,
Evil sisters and brothers
And fathers and mothers,
A terrible crew.
As headlong they hurried,
The people they flurried,
And troubled and woried,
As lies always do.
So, evil it boded,
This monstrous lie goaded,
Till at last it exploded
In sin and in shame.
Bur from mud and mire,
The pieces flew higher
Till they hit the sad liar
And killed his good name.