The Garden Gnome

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Scrolls
A modern fable in verse. Wise Monkey Wrought scroll N.011, "The Garden Gnome." The gnome was given a rod and a pond and told to fish. The pond was concrete. The gnome did not complain. A gnome sat fishing by the pool, a painted rod above the stone. The pond was solid. So the rule of fishing there could not be shown. The seasons turned above his hat, the summers browned, the winters white. He fished through all of them, and sat with undiminished appetite. The family moved. The house was sold. New people came and mowed the lawn. The gnome fished on, a touch more old, through owners gone and owners born. The pond stayed dry of any fish. The gnome stayed steady at his post. He had been given one daft wish and kept it, like a loyal ghost. The pond has no fish. The gnome has no doubts.