A slightly spooky tale for Halloween about a poor, lonely creature called a Dong, who misses his true love (a Jumbly girl) so much that he fastens himself a long, luminous nose and sets off throughout the dark and dreary night, playing a mournful pipe in the hopes of finding his sweetheart. (duration 9 minutes) An episode from Journey with Story, a storytelling podcast for kids.
Full Transcript
Wondering what you are going to dress up as this year for Halloween? I know it might be hard for many of us as we maybe cannot go out and trick or treat as we usually do because of all this discombobulation we are going through with Covid. Remember that word – discombobulate that I shared with you some time ago? Just means to be a bit out of sorts – a bit confused and perplexed as so many of us have been for the past few months. But stories and poems are great ways to boost our spirits, cheer us up and give us a little jolt of joy or sliver of solace.
Hello everyone. I’m Kathleen Pelley – Welcome to JWS. Today’s episode is another kind of a nonsense poem with lots of fabulous made up words that you will just have to guess the meaning of as we go along. It is a great poem for Halloween as the main character is a little spooky, I think.
Mums and dads if your little one is under 5, you might want to take a listen first to see if it might be too scary for her or him and then you can always just go back and choose another episode.
Today, I want to give a huge thank you to a parent who wrote a terrific review of our podcast –iTunes name of Elliott W89 and a very happy belated birthday to your son – Adonijah (forgive me if I did not pronounce that correctly) who had a birthday on August 24th Happy happy belated birthday to you.
Let’s take a journey with…
The Dong with a Luminous Nose
BY EDWARD LEAR
When awful darkness and silence reign
Over the great Gromboolian plain,
Through the long, long wintry nights; —
When the angry breakers roar
As they beat on the rocky shore; —
When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights
Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: —
Then, through the vast and gloomy dark,
There moves what seems a fiery spark,
A lonely spark with silvery rays
Piercing the coal-black night, —
A Meteor strange and bright: —
Hither and thither the vision strays,
A single lurid light.
Slowly it wander, — pauses, — creeps, —
Anon it sparkles, — flashes and leaps;
And ever as onward it gleaming goes
A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws.
And those who watch at that midnight hour
From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower,
Cry, as the wild light passes along, —
“The Dong! — the Dong!
“The wandering Dong through the forest goes!
“The Dong! the Dong!
“The Dong with a luminous Nose!”
Long years ago
The Dong was happy and gay,
Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl
Who came to those shores one day.
For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did, —
Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd
Where the Oblong Oysters grow,
And the rocks are smooth and gray.
And all the woods and the valleys rang
With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang, —
“Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and the hands are blue
And they went to sea in a sieve.
Happily, happily passed those days!
While the cheerful Jumblies staid;
They danced in circlets all night long,
To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong,
In moonlight, shine, or shade.
For day and night he was always there
By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair,
With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair.
Till the morning came of that hateful day
When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away,
And the Dong was left on the cruel shore
Gazing — gazing for evermore, —
Ever keeping his weary eyes on
That pea-green sail on the far horizon, —
Singing the Jumbly Chorus still
As he sate all day on the grassy hill, —
“Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and the hands are blue
And they went to sea in a sieve.
But when the sun was low in the West,
The Dong arose and said;
— “What little sense I once possessed
Has quite gone out of my head!” —
And since that day he wanders still
By lake and forest, marsh and hills,
Singing — “O somewhere, in valley or plain
“Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!
“For ever I’ll seek by lake and shore
“Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!”
Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks,
Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks,
And because by night he could not see,
He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree
On the flowery plain that grows.
And he wove him a wondrous Nose, —
A Nose as strange as a Nose could be!
Of vast proportions and painted red,
And tied with cords to the back of his head.
— In a hollow rounded space it ended
With a luminous Lamp within suspended,
All fenced about
With a bandage stout
To prevent the wind from blowing it out; —
And with holes all round to send the light,
In gleaming rays on the dismal night.
And now each night, and all night long,
Over those plains still roams the Dong;
And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe
You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe
While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain
To meet with his Jumbly Girl again;
Lonely and wild — all night he goes, —
The Dong with a luminous Nose!
And all who watch at the midnight hour,
From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower,
Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright,
Moving along through the dreary night, —
“This is the hour when forth he goes,
“The Dong with a luminous Nose!
“Yonder — over the plain he goes;
“He goes!
“He goes;
“The Dong with a luminous Nose!”
So can you tell me what the word luminous means now? Yes, of course – it means that it lights up
And did you recognize some other little creatures in this poem that you met in one of our earlier episodes – yes, yes; I bet some of you did
It is the JUMBLIES – if you don’t remember that episode you could go back and listen to it now.
Didn’t you love all those made up words like
Gromboolian
Chankly Bore
Twangum Tree
Bong Tree
And you just have to love Jumbly girl!
This would be a fun poem to memorize for Halloween – and then recite it to your friends or family – even if you just memorized one or two verses – so good for your memory to do that and for your heart and soul…and that helps us all as we go through these discombobulating times to remember, as my favorite poet says.
All will be well, all will be well and all manner of things shall be well.
Happy Halloween
Don’t forget you can send me your drawings and connect with us on IG at JWS.
Cheerio then, join me next time for JWS.
