The King's Sword, Part 2/5 Poem by Flying Lemming

The court adviser walked on by
The king's displeasure he did spy
Then through the tent he saw the hollow pit
His pulse worked fast his brain did to
He guessed why the king was blue
And could tell they were in the muck

'But sire we all make mistakes
And anyway you've got the fakes
They've fooled the army for quite long enough'
The king looked up and shook his head
'The problem, ' he angrily said
'Is not the army but Lord Jack McDuff.

I took his castle in a war
Now he wants to even the score
Destroying my army with planted doubt
He checks my sword almost each hour
He knows that it inspires my power
Hoping one day to catch me out,

And when he learns the sword is gone
He'll spread the word, it won't take long
Soon the army will all lose their bite
Their faith destroyed, their courage too
McDuff's army will just walk through
There won’t even need to be a fight'

The adviser helped him to his feet
And in his mind tried to complete
A plan to get the king out of this mess
Silent minutes drifted past
Then the adviser said at last
'Sire I have a plan, well more or less

The swords a symbol as you say
It can be shown a different way
You don't need to use it in a fight
It still can be of use to you
As long as it remains in view
Perhaps being shown from some great height'

'Of course' the king replied with power
'I'll tie a fake sword to a tower
I'll say it helps to spread the sword's good luck
And from that distance none would know
The real sword has happened to go
Stolen by some evil thieving shmuck'

They checked the plan it did make sense
To give the king the best defence
They dare not leave anything to chance
The king rushed off a speech to make
The adviser dashed to grab a fake
The guard was posted off to fight in France

The speech was said, the story swallowed
The king, outside, the people followed
To see the fake strapped to the towers roof
And if a doubt was ever raised
Upwards the doubters eyes would gaze
To see the solid shining sword of proof

All went well a day went past
T. C. Duval surfaced at last
And crept into the castle to negotiate
He looked around quite carefully
Was shocked and surprised see
That not one person was mad or irate

He ran around his fist did shake
He shouted 'that sword is a fake'
'How do you know? ' asked a passing man
T. C. thought fast he daren't admit
That he had gone and stolen it
So away he disappointed ran