The verses that made the Elders wince, the Frog Chorus snicker, and Mother Goose raise an eyebrow.

The Limerick That Launched a Thousand Gossip Columns

There once was a goose at the pond,
Of whom many ducks grew quite fond.
He preened and he posed,
And scandal arose —
Now none of the Elders respond.

(Bartholomew Cawthorn ran this one front-page in The Quill & Quack, claiming it was autobiographical. Father Goose insists it was about “a different goose.”)

The Ode That Offended the Crows

A crow on a fence tried to rhyme,
But failed every time after time.
He squawked and he squawked,
The audience gawked,
And he called my own limerick crime.

(Led to a boycott of Father Goose’s readings by the crow community for three festival cycles.)

The Sonnet of the Soggy Nest

Fourteen lines on a nest gone damp —
It smelled of mold, it felt like a swamp.
I read it aloud,
The audience howled —
And I haven’t been back to that camp.

(Critics declared it “too bleak for a festival opener.”)

The Honk-Limerick That Got Temporarily Banned

A goose with a quill and a grin,
Penned a limerick most full of sin.
The Elders turned red,
“No more!” they all said —
Till next year, when I snuck it back in.

(The details of the rhyme itself are “sealed” in Council records — but pond whispers say it rhymed “Nantucket.”)

The One-Line Wonder That Flopped

Honk.

(Father Goose called it minimalist genius. The audience called it a waste of a scroll.)