by Karen Goodright

Created on: December 06, 2008

My kid came home from school one day and repeated a little rhyme he'd heard:

"Mary had a little lamb."
You've heard this tale before.
But did you know she passed her plate and had a little more?

I suppose some parents might have been horrified by this (especially since he'd heard it from his music teacher), but my family has a healthy appreciation for the macabre, and I was just *tickled*. In fact, I was so tickled, that I wrote a whole song around it. We recorded it as a family with my son singing the part of the little lamb who likes jelly. He also joined in on the final refrain.

You know, I think maybe I'll go to hell with Mary for it, but at least I'll be laughing along the way.

The Tale of Mary
"Mary had a little lamb;"
they told you that in school
as surely as they taught you math
and perhaps the Golden Rule.
But Mary's tale doesn't go
the way they like to tell.
I know that there's justice;
I know Mary sweats in hell.

Mary was a pretty girl
with eyes so soft and blue.
Quiet and shy and sweet and strange,
her visitors were few.
She kept a neat and cozy home
all nestled on a hill,
a pen of sheep out in back
and a shed hid out of view.

Mary went out to that pen
one dark and moonless night.
Her blue eyes glittered,
and her white skin shivered;
sheep cowered in their fright.
She laughed and danced and skipped and sang
'til she found her lamb of choice.
The lamb just stood and looked at her,
then spoke in his low voice:
"I know you'll take me to that shed,
and there I'll meet my doom.
But one dark night you'll share our plight
beneath a blood-red moon."

Mary flew into a rage;
she pulled a great big knife.
With one quick stroke she slit its throat
and took away its life.
She ran back to the house
that she kept nestled on the hill.
Her cheeks were ruddy, and her skirts were bloody,
and then she ate her fill.

"Mary had a little lamb."
You've heard this tale before,
but did you know she passed her plate
and had a little more?

Mary looked to the sky one night
and saw the moon was red.
Her blood ran cold 'cause she'd been told;
she decided to go to bed.
She went back to her room
and started takin' off her clothes.
She turned around and what she found
near made her heart to froze:A woolly tail! A fuzzy belly!
She fell upon all fours.
A lamb she spied; out loud it cried,"Quick! Get a knife!
And bring the jelly."Mary tried her best to scream,
but all she did was bleat.
The lambs came in.
They closed the door,
and then began to eat."Mary had a little lamb."
You've heard this tale before,
but did you know she met her fate?
Her bones are on the floor.Her bones are on the floor.
Her bones are on the floor.
Her bones are on the floor.

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